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HIS  DISCOURSE  by  one 

who  was  a  spiritual  success, 
is  one  of  several  manuscripts 
left  in  care  of  his  sister  by 
the  writer,  and  is  sent  out  to  his  friends 
and  to  those  who  might  be  interested, 
both  as  a  memorial  and  in  the  belief 
that  this  work,  labored  over  during 
many  long  years  of  suffering,  bears 
upon  it  the  stamp  of  a  wholesome 
earnestness  and  a  spirituality  which  can 
not  but  be  a  help  to  those  who  read. 


What  is  Eternal  Life? 


WIRT  DEXTER  BINGHAM 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


Copyright,  1910 
By  MILLISENT  BINGHAM 


Printed  by 

Thi  Stanlty -Taylor  Company 
San  Francisco 


Of   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

Of 


Sntrobucttott 

"And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know 
thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom 
thou  hast  sent." — John  17:3. 

After  all,  words  are  not  very  adequate  vehicles 
for  the  expression  of  thought.  This  phrase,  life 
eternal,  for  instance,  doubtless  brings  up  in  your 
mind  and  in  mine,  varying  ideas  as  to  what  is 
included  therein.  And  yet,  if  you  and  I  do 
not  get  from  this  phrase  the  meaning  which 
Christ,  the  speaker,  intended,  it  should  bear,  we 
must  necessarily  have  a  false  idea,  or  an  entirely 
inadequate  one,  of  what  it  really  means. 

It  is  quite  a  usual  custom  for  people  to  import 
into  written  words  their  own  conceptions.  In- 
stead of  taking  from  a  verse  of  the  Bible  that 
meaning  which  Christ  put  into  it,  they  put  into 
the  verse  their  own  conceptions,  and  imagine  that 
they  are  getting  Christ's  meaning,  when  this  is 
not  the  case  at  all. 

This  is,  and  has  been  for  many  centuries,  the 
cause  of  more  religious  confusion  than  any  other 
one  thing;  and  the  prevalence  of  fragmentary 


2045 


00 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

Bible  study  has  undoubtedly  contributed  to  this 
result.  Also  the  too-common  custom  among 
ministers  of  selecting  for  a  text  a  verse  of  the 
Bible,  and  from  that  text  landing  almost  any- 
where, is  another  cause  of  mental  confusion. 

It  is  often  quite  possible  to  land  almost  any- 
where by  selecting  one  verse  of  the  Bible  for 
a  text,  and  preaching  a  whole  sermon  from  it. 
Witness  the  many  ministers  during  and  previous 
to  the  Civil  War,  who  defended  slavery  from 
the  pulpit.  Witness  today  the  defense  of  poly- 
gamy among  the  Mormons. 

All  we  have  to  do  to  land  almost  anywhere  is 
to  take  from  the  Bible  what  seems  desirable  to  us, 
and  let  the  rest  go.  Instead  of  extracting  the 
real  Christ-given  meaning  from  a  verse  by 
checking  it  up  with  the  rest  of  Christ's  words, 
and  thus  getting  the  real  meaning,  the  custom 
has  been  too  common  for  the  minister  to  take 
the  text  and  import  quantities  of  his  own  con- 
ceptions and  ideas  into  it. 

The  result  of  this  course  of  proceeding  must 
be  that  our  conceptions  are  often  wrong,  even 
where  we  think  we  are  right.  We  cannot  take 
truth  in  teaspoon  doses  and  have  any  reasonable 
assurance  that  it  is  the  truth. 


INTRODUCTION  v 

Truth,  as  given  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  is  a 
veritable  network,  each  strand  of  which  supports 
not  only  one,  but  many  other  strands;  and  one 
could  not  be  truly  said  to  have  a  fair  under- 
standing of  any  truth  therein  contained,  except 
they  possess  a  fair  understanding  of  every  other 
supporting  truth  there  given. 

Truth  is  not  composed  of  many  different 
fragments  placed  together,  but  is  in  itself  a 
perfect  and  complete  whole.  The  moment  any 
part  of  truth  is  detached  from  the  main  body 
which  supports  it,  it  becomes  not  only  a  possi- 
bility to  force  this  fragment  of  truth  into  a 
meaning  entirely  foreign  to  it,  but  an  almost 
inevitable  consequence  of  such  detachment;  this 
part  not  being  in  its  true  position  in  the  arch 
of  truth,  the  whole  structure  is  slightly  deranged. 

Let  us,  then,  endeavor  by  every  means  in  our 
power  to  fill  out  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  life 
eternal  in  the  way  in  which  Christ  intended  it 
should  be  filled  out.  Let  us  endeavor  to  extract 
all  that  fullness  of  meaning  from  these  words 
that  Christ  intended  they  should  contain. 

In  order  that  we  may  get  this  full  meaning,  and 
get  it  correctly,  there  appears  to  be  but  one 
course  of  action  open  to  us,  and  that  is :  To 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

search  the  Gospel  of  Christ  for  other  refer- 
ences to  this  same  thing — eternal  life. 

You  notice  I  say  this  same  thing,  and  not 
these  same  words — eternal  life.  There  are  other 
expressions  which  Christ  uses  to  convey  this 
meaning,  as,  everlasting  life.  Everlasting  means 
eternal.  According  to  Webster,  these  two  words 
are  synonyms,  the  only  difference  being  that 
eternal  means  without  beginning  and  without 
end;  while  everlasting  simply  means  without 
end.  Therefore,  as  applied  to  all  beings  having 
a  definite  beginning,  eternal  must  refer  to  the 
future  only,  and  is  absolutely  identical  in  mean- 
ing with  everlasting  whenever  so  used. 

What  we  seek  is  the  meaning, — be  the  words 
what  they  may.  We  seek  Christ's  conception  of 
the  thing  itself. 

By  taking  all  references  which  Christ  makes 
to  eternal  life  and  placing  them  together,  we  shall 
obtain  the  fullness  of  his  meaning,  with  least 
chance  of  error. 

If  at  any  time  it  may  appear  that  I  wander 
from  the  subject,  or  repeat  the  same  quotation 
with  what  seems  undue  frequency,  I  trust  that 
you  will  bear  in  mind  what  I  have  said  about  the 
whole  network  of  truth,  and  remember  that  I  am 


INTRODUCTION  ,      vii 

trying  to  make  plain  some  of  these  supporting 
strands,  without  which  a  proper  conception  of 
any  single  one  strand  would  be  impossible. 

This  will  also  render  apparent  the  necessity 
for  quoting  a  much  larger  proportion  of  Scrip- 
ture than  is  usual  in  works  of  this  nature,  but 
I  trust  the  high  prize  sought  for:  truth  as  in- 
terpreted by  Truth;  truth  as  interpreted  by 
Christ,  may  be  ample  excuse  for  inflicting  as  few 
interruptions  of  my  own  upon  you  as  can  be  got 
along  with.  Certainly  the  more  we  can  interpret 
the  words  of  Christ  by  the  words  of  Christ,  the 
less  our  chance  of  error. 

In  this  attempt  I  must  also  ask  your  kind 
indulgence  toward  my  shortcomings,  since  I 
shall  unquestionably  fall  very  far  short  of  doing 
this  work  as  I  should  like  to  do  it. 

WIRT  DEXTER  BINGHAM. 

Santa  Monica,  California, 
April  25,  1909. 


OTfmt  i*  eternal  life? 


SECTION    i.     "And  this   is   life   eternal,   that  Definition  of 
they  might  know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent." — John  17:  3. 

First  we  learn  as  above,  that  life  eternal  is : 
to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ;  that  is,  he  that 
merely  knows  them  has  eternal  life. 

We  have  all  been  acquainted  with  notable 
members  of  that  class  of  people  who  continually 
misinterpret  the  motives  of  others,  even  when 
those  others  are  noble-minded  people,  imputing 
to  their  noblest  actions  motives  of  self-interest — 
the  motives  which  under  the  same  circumstances 
would  actuate  them.  They  not  only  appear  to 
be,  but  really  are,  unable  to  conceive  of  anybody 
doing  a  noble  act,  untinged  by  motives  of  self- 
interest. 

For  instance,  you  have  all  probably  come  in 
contact  with  people  whose  sole  idea  of  honesty 
is  to  keep  within  the  law;  in  whose  opinion 
any  act  is  all  right  which  cannot  be  punished  by 
process  of  law.  They  could  no  more  understand 
any  one  being  honest  for  the  sake  of  honesty 
itself,  than  they  could  sprout  out  wings  and  fly. 


2  WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

These  are  the  people  who  say,  when  they  hear 
of  any  noteworthy,  honest  action — such  as  a 
man's  returning  a  pocketbook  found  containing 
a  large  sum  of  money:  "What  a  fool  he  was, 
why  didn't  he  keep  it?  He  needed  the  money." 

So  it  is  with  them;  anybody  who  does  any 
action  of  this  kind  is,  in  their  estimation,  either 
a  fool  or  a  religious  crank.  Such  an  act  is 
beyond  their  comprehension;  they  do  not  know 
honesty. 

The  mere  power  to  comprehend  in  its  fullness 
a  noble  act,  is  from  the  same  block  as  the  act 
itself — of  the  same  spirit.  In  order  therefore  to 
know  God;  to  comprehend*  him — not  his  infin- 
ity, but  the  motives  of  his  doing — we  must  par- 

*  Webster  would  doubtless  take  exception  to  this  use  of  the 
word  comprehend,  since  he  says:  "The  very  idea  of  God  sup- 
poses that  he  may  be  apprehended,  though  not  comprehended,  by 
rational  beings." 

Now,  nothing  can  be  surer  than  that  God  comprehends  him- 
self. Paul  says:  "For  ye  are  the  temple  of  the  living  God; 
as  God  hath  said,  I  will  dwell  in  them,  and  walk  in  them;  and 
I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people."  (II  Cor. 
6:  16.)  In  so  far,  then  as  God  does  dwell  in  us,  in  so  far  as 
we  are  one  with  him;  in  just  that  measure  do  we  comprehend 
him. 

Therefore  the  word  comprehend  in  this  limited  use,  expresses 
the  meaning  I  wish  to  convey  better  than  apprehend,  which 
means  to  mentally  grasp.  Now  one  cannot  know  God  by  the 
mind  alone;  the  process  of  knowing  God  involves  the  heart  and 
soul  as  well  as  the  mind. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?  3 

take  of  his  nature.    That  Spirit  which  is  in  him 
must  also  be  in  us. 

If  then  that  Spirit  be  in  us  which  is  in  him, 
shall  we  not  have  eternal  life?  Are  not  both 
God  and  the  Spirit  of  God  eternal? 

If  his  Spirit  forms  a  part  of  us,  we  shall  be 
eternal  as  he  is  eternal;  consequently  to  know 
God  is  eternal  life — to  merely  know  him. 

We  can  only  learn  to  know  God  through  the 
words  and  life  of  Christ :  "No  man  cometh  unto 
the  Father,  but  by  me."  (John  14:6.)  There- 
fore he  who  learns  to  know  God,  must  also  learn 
to  know  Christ,  since  knowledge  of  both  is 
therein  contained. 

SECTION  2.     In  John  6 : 27,  we  find :    "Labor  Labor 
not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  for  that  "^"jfe*0 
meat  which  endureth  unto  everlasting  life,  which  meat  of 
the  Son  of  man  shall  give  unto  you."  Christ's  Gospel 

Everlasting  life,  as  we  have  seen,  expresses 
the  same  meaning  as  eternal  life  and  thus  we 
have  here  another  conception  of  eternal  life.  We 
are  instructed  to  labor  for  that  meat  which  en- 
dureth unto  eternal  life — which  Christ  gives 
unto  us. 

On  looking  around  to  see  what  possessions 
Christ  has  left  unto  us,  we  find  that  there  is  but 


4  WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

one — his  Gospel,  which  he  has  given  unto  us; 
that  he  has  sacrificed  his  life  for  us,  in  order 
that  he  might  leave  to  every  individual  man, 
woman,  and  child  as  a  precious  personal  pos- 
session, his  Holy  Gospel. 

But  every  personal  possession  we  own  is  valu- 
able according  to  the  use  we  make  of  it,  and 
the  word  of  Christ  is  no  exception  to  this  rule. 
If  we  make  no  use  of  it,  save  as  a  parlor  orna- 
ment, that  will  be  the  extent  of  its  value  to  us. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  regard  it  as  a  most 
precious  personal  possession,  and  labor  diligently 
for  that  meat — the  true  meaning,  which  is  in  it; 
if  we  make  that  meat  our  own,  it  will  endure  in 
us  unto  eternal  life,  and  thus  be  to  us  more 
precious  than  all  things. 

The  meat  is  there,  but  requires  labor  to  ex- 
tract it,  to  make  it  our  own;  even  as  God  has 
made  it  necessary  that  all  the  fruits  of  the  earth 
require  labor  expended  upon  them,  in  order  to 
make  them  useful  to  man ;  whether  merely  gath- 
ering, as  in  the  case  of  wild  fruits,  or  elaborate 
processes  of  manufacture,  as  in  the  case  of  cot- 
ton. Some  form  of  labor  is  necessary  in  every 
case.  So  he  has  also  made  it  necessary  in  order 
to  accumulate  spiritual  possessions — heavenly 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?  5 

treasures,  that  we  must  labor ;  and  the  extent  of 
our  spiritual  possessions  will  be  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  labor  expended  in  their  acquire- 
ment, differences  of  soil  and  climate  considered. 
By  soil  I  mean  the  individual  nature  of  the  man, 
that  in  which  the  seed,  or  word  of  God,  grows  ;* 
and  by  climate,  the  environment  of  the  man. 

The  meat  which  the  Gospel  contains  is  surely 
a  right  understanding  of  the  word,  that  inter- 
pretation which  Christ  himself  intended  it  should 
bear.  If  we  get  any  other  interpretation  than 
this,  we  get  that  out  of  it  which  Christ  did  not 
put  into  it,  and  it  consequently  cannot  be  that 
meat. 

The  meat,  then,  is  not  the  mere  words  of  the 
Gospel,  but  the  real  Christ-given  meaning  back 
of  them.  The  word  itself  is  but  the  lifeless 
husk,  open  sometimes  to  many  different  interpre- 
tations; the  real  meaning  of  the  word  is  that 
meat  for  which  we  must  labor,  sifting,  comparing, 
deriving,  with  God's  help,  that  completeness 
of  meaning  from  the  four  Gospels,  which  any 
single  one  of  them  must  necessarily  give  in- 
adequately. 


*  "Now  the   parable   is   this:    the   seed   is   the  word  of  God." 
(Luke  8:  11.) 


6  WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

Chif the^ate'r  SECTION  3-  In  John  4 :  13,  14,  we  find :  "Jesus 
of  life  answered  and  said  unto  her,  Whosoever  drinketh 
of  this  water  shall  thirst  again: 

"But  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I 
shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst;  but  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of 
water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 

Here  again  we  have  everlasting  life,  which  to 
us  is  the  same  as  eternal  life.  Hence  he  that 
drinks  of  the  water  that  Christ  gives  has  eternal 
life.  And  what  is  this  water  that  Christ  has 
given  us?  Again  we  see  that  the  only  direct 
possession  that  Christ  has  given  to  all  men  is  his 
Gospel. 

He  has  given  his  life  for  all  men,  but  his  Gos- 
pel to  all  men;  hence  his  Gospel  being  the  only 
possession  which  he  has  bequeathed  directly  to 
us  individually,  must  be  this  water,  or  must  con- 
tain this  water  of  life.  Whichever  be  the  case 
is  without  importance,  as  long  as  we  know  where 
this  water  is,  and  how  to  drink  it;  and  it  is 
plainly  evident  that  there  is  but  one  way  in  which 
this  water  may  be  absorbed  into  ourselves,  and 
that  is  to  read  and  meditate  on  the  Gospel 
wherein  this  water  is,  and  it  will  thereby  be  in 
us  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  eternal  life. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?  7 

It  were  desirable  that  we  drink  abundantly,  in 
order  that  the  well  may  be  a  deep  one,  and  that 
the  water  of  life  which  flows  from  it  may  be  most 
plentiful;  for  why  should  we  have  but  a  little 
rill  of  this  water  in  us,  when  we  may  have  a  deep 
and  abundant  flow? 

Why  should  we  have  but  a  little  eternal  life, 
perfect  though  it  be,  when  we  may  have  a  deep 
and  abundant  eternal  (spiritual)  life?  For 
Christ  has  given  to  us  that  very  inexhaustible 
well  from  which  he  derived  his  own  eternal  life, 
— the  word  of  God. 

SECTION  4.    Continuing  we  find  in  John  6 :  54  Christ's  flesh 
and  63:    "Whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  tahned  t^u0e°d  is 
my  blood  hath  eternal  life" ;   and  in  further  ex-  meaning  of 
planation,  "It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth;    the  ^rJJJ* 
flesh  profiteth  nothing:    the  words  that  I  speak 
unto  you,  they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life." 

What  does  this  mean?  It  surely  must  mean 
that  the  life, — the  eternal  life — is  in  the  words 
that  Christ  speaks,  and  that  the  flesh  profits  noth- 
ing as  flesh,  but  only  as  the  Word.  You  recollect 
John  1:14:  "And  the  Word  was  made  flesh, 
and  dwelt  among  us." 

There  is  also  a  further  lesson  here,  in  the 
manner  in  which  he  speaks  of  eating  his  flesh. 


8  WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

Part  of  the  food  that  we  eat  every  day  builds 
up  our  physical  self,  becomes  a  part  of  our  out- 
ward self.  In  the  same  way  this  flesh  of  Christ, 
the  real  meaning  of  the  word,  which  we  absorb 
each  day,  builds  up  our  spiritual  self,  becomes 
a  part  of  our  inward  self. 

This  likewise  explains  many  references  made 
by  Christ  to  being  in  us :  as  in  John  14 : 20,  "At 
that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  my  Father, 
and  ye  in  me,  and  I  in  you."  If  then,  Christ  be 
in  us ;  being,  as  he  is,  eternal,  if  he  be  a  part  of 
us;  must  we  not  be  eternal,  in  so  far  as  he 
is  a  part  of  us?  And  if  we  are  in  Christ,  form 
a  part  of  Christ,  must  we  not  be  eternal,  in  so  far 
as  we  are  part  of  Christ  ? 

Referring  to  the  verse  at  the  beginning  of 
this  section  we  find  that  Christ  says  we  must 
not  only  eat  his  flesh,  but  drink  his  blood,  to 
have  eternal  life. 

What  was  the  blood  of  Christ,  spiritually 
speaking?  It  must  have  been  that  from  which 
his  spiritual  self  was  built  up.  Since  blood  is 
that  by  means  of  which  the  physical  man  is  built 
up,  and  as  it  is  derived  from  food;  so,  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  the  blood  of  Christ  must  be  taken 
to  mean  that  from  which  the  spiritual  man  is 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?  9 

built  up,  that  food  which  gives  life  to  the  spiri- 
tual man. 

Now,  in  seeking  what  gave  life  to  the  spiritual 
part  of  Jesus,  we  find  the  following  verse:  "As 
the  living  Father  sent  me,  and  /  live  by  the 
Father:  so  he  that  eateth  me,  even  he  shall  live 
by  me."  (John  6:  57.)  Since  blood  is  that  which 
gives  life  to  the  physical  man,  it  follows,  spiri- 
tually speaking,  that  the  Father  must  have  been 
that  blood  which  gave  life  to  Christ.  And,  since 
the  Father  could  not  dwell  in  Christ  bodily,  it 
must  have  been  by  means  of  his  Spirit,  his  in- 
most self,  that  he  gave  life  unto  Christ. 

Hence  we  find  that  to  drink  the  blood  of  Christ 
is  to  absorb  into  ourselves  the  Spirit  of  the 
Father.  And,  therefore,  to  eat  the  flesh  and 
drink  the  blood  of  Christ  means:  to  read  the 
word  and  absorb  into  ourselves  the  Spirit  of 
God.  He  that  does  this  has  eternal  life. 

Now  there  is  another  reference  in  John  6:51, 
which  would  properly  come  under  this  section, 
"I  am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from 
heaven :  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread  he  shall 
live  forever:  and  the  bread  that  I  will  give  is 
my  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the 
world/'  To  live  forever  is  eternal  life,  as  re- 


io          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

gards  all  beings  having  a  definite  beginning. 
This  verse  fills  in,  and  renders  more  forcible,  the 
matter  we  have  just  discussed. 

There  is  here  no  reference  to  the  blood,  but 
this  in  no  way  disturbs  the  correctness  of  our 
previous  conclusions ;  since  to  "eat  of  this  bread" 
obviously  means  to  absorb  into  ourselves  the 
true  meaning  of  the  word,  and  he  who  does  this 
absorbs  into  himself  the  Spirit  of  God.  For 
does  not  Paul  say:  "Even  so  the  things  of  God 
knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God."  (I  Cor. 
2:11.)  If,  therefore,  we  know  the  things  of 
God,  by  absorbing  into  ourselves  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  it  is  not  we  that  know  them, 
but  the  Spirit  of  God  in  us. 

Christ  says:  "It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth; 
the  flesh  profiteth  nothing:  the  words  that  I 
speak  unto  you  they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life." 
(John  6:  63.)  It  is  plain  that  when  Christ  says 
his  words  are  spirit,  and  are  life,  that  he  does 
not  mean  the  mere  symbols,  but  the  true  mean- 
ings which  those  symbols  are  intended  to  convey. 

Therefore  the  definition  of  eternal  life  which 
we  derive  from  this  section  is :  eternal  life  is  to 
eat  the  flesh,  and  drink  the  blood  of  Christ; 
which  means  to  read  the  word  of  God,  and  ab- 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          11 

sorb  into  ourselves  the  Spirit  of  God;  or,  what 
is  the  same  thing,  to  absorb  into  ourselves  the 
true  meaning  of  the  word  of  God. 

That  Christ  spoke  the  verses  above  in  the  sense 
in  which  they  are  here  interpreted  is  rendered 
clear,  not  only  by  the  verses  themselves  and 
their  agreement  with  each  other,  but  by  the 
fact  that  his  mission  upon  earth  was  a  spiri- 
tual one,  to  give  unto  men  eternal  —  that  is, 
spiritual  —  life. 

SECTION  5.     Continuing  we  find  in  John  12:  The  under- 
49,  50 :     "But  the  Father  which  sent  me,  he  gave  standing  of 
me  a  commandment,  what  I  should  say,  and  what  mandment  is 
I  should  speak.    And  I  know  that  his  command-  eternal  life 
ment  is  life  everlasting." 

We  have  here  life  everlasting  again,  which  is, 
in  respect  to  us,  the  very  meaning  of  eternal  life. 
These  words  which  Christ  speaks  are  the  com- 
mandment of  God,  which  is  eternal  life.  If  then 
these  words,  this  commandment,  be  absorbed  into 
us,  become  a  part  of  us,  shall  we  not  have  eternal 
life?  If  in  the  case  of  Jesus  "the  Word  was 
made  flesh,"  in  our  case  also  shall  not  the  word 
be  made  flesh? 

Shall  we  not  by  this  method  become  one  with 
Christ?  as  mentioned  in  John  17:21  and  23: 


12          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

"That  they  all  may  be  one;  as  thou,  Father  art 
in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one 
in  us."  "I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they 
may  be  made  perfect  in  one."  If  our  will  on  all 
matters  be  changed  by  this  absorbed  word  so  as 
to  coincide  with  God's  will,  shall  we  not  be  one 
in  Christ,  and  through  him  in  God  also  ? 

Who  can  deny  that  this  absorbed  word  of  God 
will  produce  this  result?  None  surely  of  those 
who  in  true  humility  of  heart  unceasingly  search 
the  word  of  God  for  light,  submitting  their  wills 
unto  the  will  of  God,  until  finally  they  find  their 
will  is  becoming  by  the  marvelous  influence  of 
Christ  changed  so  as  to  be  more  and  more  like 
unto  God's  will,  until  at  last  when  we  are  per- 
fected in  Christ,  our  will  shall  become  even  as 
the  will  of  God  on  all  matters  whatever. 

Who  can  deny  that  while  this  changing  process 
is  going  on,  Christ  dwells  in  such  ?  Yes,  that  by 
the  blessed  influence  of  Christ  himself,  this 
change  is  produced? 

Our  definition  of  eternal  life  here  then  is, — 
eternal  life  is  the  commandment  of  God  which 
is  the  word  of  Christ. 

He  that  has  in  him  the  true  meaning  of  the 
commandment  of  God  has  eternal  life. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          13 
SECTION  6.     We  find  in  John  5:24:    "Verily  DeeP 

TT       1         t  meditation 

verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  heareth  my  word,  necessary 
and  believeth  on  him  that  sent  me,  hath  ever- 
lasting life;  and  shall  not  come  into  condemna- 
tion ;  but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life."  Here 
we  have  everlasting  life  again,  which  is  equiva- 
lent to  eternal  life. 

Then  eternal  life  is  here  composed  of  two 
things, — first,  the  hearing  of  the  word;  second, 
the  believing  on  him  that  sent  him.  Had  these 
things  not  both  been  necessary  Christ  would  not 
have  put  them  here.  The  inference  is  plain  that 
the  process  of  hearing  should  be  followed  in 
natural  order  by  the  process  of  believing  on  him 
that  sent  him;  and  this  believing  does  not,  of 
course,  mean  a  mere  assent  to  the  existence  and 
supreme  power  of  God,  but  carries  with  it  the 
idea  that  we  must,  in  some  satisfactory  degree, 
know  God;  that  we  must  know — comprehend — 
his  character  as  well  as  apprehend  his  power; 
for  how  can  we  believe  on  that  which  we  know 
not,  and  how  can  we  know  without  compre- 
hending ? 

Words  are  dead  things.  Ideas,  thoughts,  are 
live  things.  Mere  assent  to  the  existence  of  God 
and  his  supreme  power  is  a  dead  thing.  To 


14          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

know  God,  to  comprehend  his  character  is  a  live 
thing,  and  therein  is  eternal  life.  The  power  to 
know  God  and  comprehend  his  character  can 
only  be  reached  through  Jesus  Christ — through 
his  word. 

God  is  as  far  above  man  as  the  heavens  are 
above  the  earth ;  man  cannot  therefore  know  and 
comprehend  God's  character  in  any  way  what- 
ever, save  by  the  Spirit  of  God  which  he  gives 
unto  us  through  the  medium  of  his  Holy  Word ; 
and  this  endowment  with  God's  Spirit  and  conse- 
quent comprehension  of  his  character,  with  the 
eternal  life  following,  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  the 
result  of  mere  formal  reading,  but  of  deep  medi- 
tation and  thought  on  what  we  read. 

TO  believe  on       SECTION  7.    We  find  in  John  6 :  47 :    "Verily, 
?l?ti,i8  to  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on  me 

seek  the  honor  J '  J  t  J       ' 

that  comes  hath  everlasting  life." 

from  God  Here  again  we  have  everlasting,  to  which 
eternal  is  equivalent  when  applied  to  the  future 
life  of  man,  and  thus  we  have  another  definition 
of  eternal  life. 

To  believe  on  Jesus  Christ  is  eternal  life. 
Here  we  have  a  word,  believe,  to  which  we  are 
liable  to  attribute  a  wrong  meaning,  or  at  least 
an  entirely  inadequate  one,  if  we  are  not  very 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          15 

careful;  as  previously  mentioned  we  are  apt  to 
put  our  own  meaning  into  a  word,  that  meaning 
to  which  we  have  been  accustomed,  instead  of 
that  meaning  which  Christ  has  put  into  the  word. 

Now  in  John  5 : 44,  Christ  says  respecting  the 
word  believe :  "How  can  ye  believe,  which  re- 
ceive honor  one  of  another,  and  seek  not  the 
honor  that  cometh  from  God  only?"  Here  his 
inference  is  plain,  a  direct  statemert  put  in  the 
form  of  a  question,  that  no  persons  can  believe 
who  receive  honor  one  of  another,  and  seek  not 
that  honor  which  comes  from  God  only. 

Here  he  makes  plain  that  his  use  of  the  word 
believe  is  not  intended  to  convey  merely  the 
meaning  of  mental  assent  to  the  fact  that  he  is 
the  Son  of  God,  and  that  we  have  eternal  life 
through  him,  though  that  meaning  is  also  in- 
cluded; but  this  belief  to  which  he  refers  is 
incompatible  with  any  other  condition  of  heart, 
than  that  condition  which  seeks  the  honor  that 
comes  from  God  only. 

Do  we  seek  this  ?  Here  then  is  a  test  by  which 
we  may  know  whether  or  not  we  possess  a 
belief  unto  eternal  life.  It  is  evident  that  we 
must  seek  the  honor  which  comes  from  God  first 
of  all,  since  Christ  says  respecting  the  very 


1 6          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

necessities  of  life :  "But  seek  ye  first  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and  his  righteousness;  and  all 
these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  (Mat- 
thew 6:33.) 

If  then  as  between  the  very  necessities  of 
physical  life  and  God's  righteousness  we  are  to 
seek  first  God's  righteousness,  how  much  more 
ought  we  to  seek  first  the  honor  which  comes 
only  from  God,  as  between  the  honor  which 
comes  from  man,  and  that  which  comes  from 
God  only.  For  physical  life  cannot  be  main- 
tained without  food  and  clothing,  but  to  be  hon- 
ored of  men  is  not  necessary  either  to  physical 
or  spiritual  life. 

It  is  clear  from  what  has  been  said  that  no 
man  is  able  to  possess  a  belief  unto  eternal  life 
except  he  seek  first  of  all  that  honor  which 
comes  only  from  God ;  for  if  he  seeks  that  honor 
second  it  is  apparent  that  he  will  be  in  the  posi- 
tion of  a  man  trying  to  serve  two  masters,  and 
Christ  has  said:  "No  man  can  serve  two  mas- 
ters."  (Matthew  6:24.) 

Therefore  the  man  who  seeks  first  the  honor 
which  comes  from  man,  and  second  the  honor 
that  comes  only  from  God,  cannot  be  a  servant 
of  God,  and  hence  cannot  have  eternal  life,  or 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          17 

that    belief    in    Christ    which    is    equivalent    to 
eternal  life. 

SECTION  8.     In  John  8:  51  we  find:    "Verily,  He  in  whom 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  If  a  man  keep  my  saying,  Christ's  words 

i     11  1        i    »       -VT  abide  has 

he  shall  never  see  death.  Now  never  to  see  eternal  life 
death  means  eternal  life,  to  us ;  hence  it  follows 
that  eternal  life  is  to  keep  Christ's  saying.  And 
how  can  a  man  keep  Christ's  saying  except  he 
first  know  the  saying,  and  how  can  he  really 
know  it  except  he  read  it  diligently,  and  medi- 
tate upon  it  without  ceasing?  For  no  man  can 
really  know  the  saying  of  Christ  except  he  under- 
stand it. 

He  that  keeps  the  saying  of  Christ  must  have 
in  himself  the  power  of  Christ,  since  the  power 
of  man  is  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  command- 
ment of  God  perfectly;  and  that  power  of 
Christ  was  by  and  through  the  word  of  God. 
(John  12:49.)  "For  I  have  not  spoken  of  my- 
self ;  but  the  Father  which  sent  me,  he  gave  me 
a  commandment,  what  I  should  say  and  what  I 
should  speak. 

"And  I  know  that  his  commandment  is  life 
everlasting." 

Therefore  in  man  also  must  this  power  of 
Christ  be  by  and  through  the  word  of  God. 


i8          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

Christ  says  in  John  15:4:  "Abide  in  me,  and 
I  in  you."  In  verse  7  of  the  same  chapter  he 
says:  "If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide 
in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall 
be  done  unto  you."  Can  this  be  explained  on  any 
other  supposition  than  that  he  in  whom  Christ's 
words  abide,  will  abide  in  Christ?  Then  if  he  in 
whom  Christ's  words  abide,  thereby  has  Christ's 
words  in  himself,  will  not  both  the  will  and  the 
power  of  Christ  be  there  also, — the  will  and  the 
power  to  keep  Christ's  saying?  If  then  to  keep 
Christ's  saying  be  eternal  life,  will  this  man  not 
have  eternal  life? 

The  righteous-       SECTION  9.  In  Matthew  25  :  46,  we  find :  "And 
nebyWftith  is  these  shaN  g°  away  into  everlasting  punishment: 
eternal  life  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 

Here  we  learn  that  to  be  righteous  is  eternal 
life.  Now  we  know  that  God  only  is  righteous, 
in  thought,  word,  and  deed.  Therefore  it  may 
well  occur  to  us  to  consider  whether  any  save 
God  or  Christ — "I  and  my  Father  are  one" — 
shall  ever  attain  to  eternal  life. 

We  know  that  no  man,  as  a  man,  has  ever 
attained  or  ever  can  attain  to  absolute  righteous- 
ness, since  Christ  says:  "There  is  none  good 
but  one,  that  is,  God,"  (Matthew  19:17),  and 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          19 

since  he  also  says  concerning  himself :  "and  the 
third  day  I  shall  be  perfected."  (Luke  13:32.) 

If  then,  even  Jesus  Christ  did  not  regard  him- 
self as  perfect  while  still  in  the  flesh,  it  is  plain 
that  none  other  can  be  perfect  until  after  the 
death  of  the  physical  man.  We  therefore  know 
that  this  life  is  for  us  a  progress  towards  per- 
fection— toward  absolute  righteousness ;  but 
that  we  shall  not  reach  this  condition  until  we 
are  released  from  the  bonds  of  the  flesh;  until 
we  are  perfected  in  Christ  and  become  one  in 
him. 

Then  shall  we  be  perfect,  as  Christ  has  com- 
manded us:  "Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect." 
(Matthew  5:48.) 

Yet,  though  because  of  the  bond  of  the  flesh, 
perfect  righteousness  is  not  possible  to  us  here, 
still  that  righteousness  which  is  by  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  which  has  been  mercifully  or- 
dained of  God  for  men  is  possible  to  us. 

For  we  can  only  have  faith  concerning  those 
things  which  are  not  yet  perfectly  attained  to. 
As  Paul  says  in  Hebrews  11:1,  "Now  faith  is 
the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence 
of  things  not  seen."  If  then  there  was  no  further 


20          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

righteousness  to  hope  for,  faith  would  not  be 
possible,  since  faith  can  only  exist  concerning 
those  things  not  yet  entirely  known  or  at- 
tained to. 

Hence  it  is  not  possible  that  men  should  reach 
a  condition  of  absolute  righteousness  here,  since 
to  do  so  would  be  to  render  faith  impossible, 
while  man  is  saved  by  faith. 

If  then  our  righteousness  is  through  faith 
only,  let  us  be  mighty  in  faith  in  order  that  we 
may  also  here  upon  earth  be  mighty  in  righteous- 
ness. And  though  we  cannot  of  ourselves  have 
faith,  let  us  even  say  to  Christ  as  the  apostles 
said,  "increase  our  faith";  for  Christ  is  both 
the  beginner  and  finisher  of  our  faith,  and 
except  as  we  know  and  acknowledge  our  own 
helplessness  in  the  matter,  Christ  cannot  help  us, 
since  we  must  first  put  ourselves  into  his  hands. 

As  Paul  says  in  Hebrews  12:2,  "Looking  unto 
Jesus  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith." 

Let  us  therefore  have  that  righteousness  which 
is  by  faith,  in  order  that  we  may  also  have 
eternal  life,  for  to  be  righteous  is  eternal  life. 

As  Paul  also  says  in  Romans  10: 17,  "So  then 
faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the 
word  of  God." 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          21 
SECTION  10.     In  Luke  10:25  to  28  we  find:  Power  to  love 

.  God  and  our 

And  behold,   a  certain   lawyer  stood   up,   and  neighbor  comes 
tempted  him,  saying.  Master,  what  shall  I  do  to  to  us>  as  to 

.    -    *V  i  r  r    ->  ,,  Christ,  from 

inherit  eternal  life  ?  the  Spirit  of 

"He  said  unto  him  what  is  written  in  the  law?  ^^    Study 

,  ,  of  Christ's 

how  readest  thou?  words 

"And  he  answering  said,  Thou  shalt  love  the  necessary 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all 
thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all 
thy  mind;    and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 

"And  he  said  unto  him,  Thou  hast  answered 
right ;  this  do,  and  thou  shalt  live." 

Here  then  we  find  it  is  eternal  life, — to  love 
the  Lord  with  all  thy  heart,  and  soul,  and 
strength,  and  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self. 

"With  all  thy  heart."  That  men  are  endowed 
with  talents  in  different  degree  is  apparent  as  we 
look  around  us  and  observe  our  fellows ;  so 
perhaps  it  is  unnecessary  to  do  more  than  refer 
to  the  parable  of  the  talents,  in  which  Christ 
makes  this  truth  apparent,  and  also  the  related 
truth  that  we  are  rewarded  according  to  the 
use  we  make  of  those  talents  which  God  gives  us. 

For  instance,  men's  hearts  differ;  some  men 
appear  to  be  large-hearted  naturally,  and  the 


22          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

hearts  of  others  to  be  of  smaller  make.  We 
are  not  required  to  love  God  with  as  much  power 
as  some  other  larger-hearted  man,  for  that  would 
be  beyond  us;  but  with  all  our  heart — with  all 
the  heart  which  God  has  given  us. 

"And  with  all  thy  soul."  Some  men's  souls 
are  a  fertile  soil  for  the  growth  of  love,  and 
when  love  has  been  planted  there,  it  springs  up 
into  a  mighty  growth,  a  growth  so  large  as  to 
be  a  beacon-light  among  men. 

The  souls  of  others  are  rather  a  sterile  soil,  love 
seems  to  find  here  but  a  limited  supply  of  food, 
and  the  plant  therefore  does  not  become  so  robust. 

Now  why  does  the  plant  love  find  here  but 
a  small  supply  of  food? 

Every  plant  in  the  physical  world  extracts  cer- 
tain chemical  elements  from  the  soil,  from  which 
the  plant  itself  is  built  up.  Different  crops  take 
different  proportions  of  the  different  elements. 
Returning  to  the  growth  of  the  plant  love  in 
the  soil  of  the  human  soul,  it  seems  apparent 
that  the  particular  elements  which  are  necessary 
to  nourish  this  plant,  dwell  in  this  sterile  soil  so 
sparingly  that  the  plant  remains  half  starved. 

Now  if  any  farmer  had  on  his  farm  soil  so 
poor  in  needed  elements  that  he  could  not  raise 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          23 

the  crops  desired,  what  would  he  do  ?  Why  if  he 
knew  his  business  he  would  doubtless  replace  the 
needed  elements  in  the  soil  by  means  of  some 
fertilizer  which  contained  those  elements  in 
abundance. 

In  seeking  a  fertilizer  for  a  sterile  soul  that 
will  give  it  the  needed  elements  to  abundantly 
nourish  the  plant  love,  we  surely  cannot  do  bet- 
ter than  to  search  for  the  human  soul  which 
has  in  all  time  borne  the  most  abundant  fruitage 
from  this  plant, — the  man  Christ  Jesus. 

It  is  generally  conceded  even  by  those  who 
are  not  believers  that  Jesus  manifested  love  in 
his  words  and  deeds  more  abundantly  than  any 
other  man. 

Was  the  soul  of  Jesus  as  a  man  naturally  so 
rich  of  soil  that  love  grew  luxuriantly  there,  and 
brought  forth  fruit  abundantly  in  loving  deeds? 
We  cannot  do  better  than  examine  the  testimony 
of  Jesus  himself  regarding  the  matter. 

He  says :  "I  can  of  mine  own  self  do  nothing." 
This  being  so,  it  is  evident  that  of  his  own  self  he 
could  not  do  a  loving  deed,  for  that  is  a  some- 
thing of  a  very  pronounced  kind, — as  every  man 
must  admit  who  has  ever  tried  to  force  himself  to 
a  deed  contrary  to  his  nature. 


24          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

Loving  deeds  cannot  be  brought  forth  from  a 
soil  in  which  love  will  not  grow.  Two  men 
might  do  the  same  deed.  With  one  it  might 
be  an  act  inspired  by  love,  and  with  the  other 
an  act  grudged,  with  many  grumblings,  in  which 
no  love  was  apparent. 

Since  the  soul  of  Jesus,  he  being  a  man  as 
we  are,  did  not  by  nature  contain  this  richness 
of  the  elements  upon  which  love  thrives,  we  may 
well  imagine  what  his  fertilizer  was,  and  where 
he  obtained  it.  It  is  plain  that  this  fertilizer  was 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  that  he  obtained  it  from 
God. 

The  Spirit  of  God  supplies  just  precisely 
those  elements  on  which  the  plant  love  thrives 
best  in  the  human  soul ;  and  does  not  the  Spirit 
of  God  enrich  the  human  soul? 

As  a  well-selected  fertilizer  manifests  its  pres- 
ence by  a  more  abundant  crop  of  fruit,  so  the 
Spirit  of  God  manifests  its  presence  by  a  more 
abundant  crop  of  loving  deeds. 

"By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

Since  Christ  obtained  the  Spirit  of  God  from 
God  himself,  it  is  evident  that  we  must  go  to 
the  same  source, — as  John  says,  "and  the  Word 
was  God." 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          25 

Now  even  as  a  fertilizer  must  be  hauled  and 
spread  over  an  impoverished  field  in  order  that 
all  parts  of  the  soil  may  be  enriched,  so  also  there 
is  labor  to  be  done  ere  the  impoverished  soul 
can  be  enriched  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  that 
labor  it  is  perhaps  needless  to  say,  must  be  done 
upon  the  word  of  God,  in  seeking  the  true  mean- 
ing thereof. 

This  spiritual  fertilizer,  unlike  the  fertilizers 
of  the  physical  world,  is  a  living  fertilizer,  and 
grows  from  a  seed — the  true  meaning  of  the 
word  of  God. 

When  the  soil — the  human  soul — becomes  so 
rich  in  needed  elements  on  which  good  plants 
thrive,  that  it  becomes  identical  with  those  ele- 
ments, identical  with  that  fertilizer,  then  that  soul 
is  indeed  one  in  God:  such  a  soul  had  the  man 
Jesus. 

It  is  manifestly  true  that  every  human  soul 
must  raise  some  kind  of  a  crop,  whether  it  be 
deeds  of  love,  or  deeds  of  hatred,  deeds  of  gener- 
osity, or  deeds  of  meanness.  Many  different 
deeds  there  are,  both  good  and  evil,  but  all  of 
them  are  natural  fruits  of  plants  in  the  human 
soul. 

It  is  a  strange  thing  that  in  many  souls  a 


OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


26          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

plant  of  love  toward  some  often  grows  side  by 
side  with  a  plant  of  hatred  towards  others,  as 
the  hill  of  corn  grows  beside  the  burdock,  or 
the  turnip  beside  the  mullein. 

Why  should  this  be  so?  Since  there  is  one 
plant,  in  the  presence  of  which  none  of  these 
weeds  which  absorb  the  nutriment  from  the  soul 
can  increase  and  grow  luxuriant. 

The  presence  of  love  for  God  renders  the  soul 
an  inhospitable  soil  for  all  evil  weeds,  and  all 
good  plants  thrive  in  its  vicinity.  It  is  plain 
that  no  matter  how  much  a  human  soul  may 
lack  those  elements  which  nourish  plants  of  good, 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  will,  if  applied  to  that  soul, 
render  it  most  rich  in  the  very  elements  it  lacks, 
and  therefore  most  productive  of  good  deeds. 

Can  any  man  be  discouraged  when  he  knows 
that  there  is  an  infinite  supply  of  this  Spirit,  and 
that  it  is  easily  accessible?  When  he  knows 
that  the  infinite  Father  greatly  desires  to  give 
him  this  Spirit  abundantly  if  he  will  only  accept 
it,  and  that  he  has  established  a  way  in  which 
he  may  accept  it — through  the  word? 

Here  is  a  way,  then,  to  so  enrich  the  soul  that 
love  for  God  may  grow  therein  with  abundant 
luxuriance,  and  that  we  may  come  to  love  him 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          27 

with  all  our  soul.  Then  shall  every  good  plant 
grow  there  also,  for  every  good  plant  is,  as  it 
were,  but  a  natural  branch  of  this  love  for  God, 
not  a  grafted,  but  a  natural  branch;  thus  shall 
we  come  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  impoverished  soul  can  be 
enriched.  Now  also  we  find  that  men  are  called 
large-hearted  because  love  dwells  in  their  hearts 
abundantly.  To  all  small-hearted  men  this 
should  be  most  encouraging,  since  it  necessarily 
follows  that  even  as  the  poorest  of  souls  can  be 
enriched,  so  also  the  smallest  hearts  can  be 
enlarged. 

Yes,  God  is  able  to  deepen  and  enlarge  our 
hearts  so  that  they  may  hold  love  in  abundance 
towards  the  Father  and  towards  our  neighbor. 
This  process  must  doubtless  be  with  suffering, 
but  in  contemplating  the  great  heart  of  Christ 
there  is  healing.  The  more  we  contemplate  it 
the  larger  our  own  will  grow,  for  "all  things  are 
possible  with  God,"  and  "the  Word  was  God," 
and  is. 

"And  with  all  thy  strength."  That  men  differ 
in  strength  or  power  to  love  God  is  as  apparent 
as  that  they  differ  in  physical  strength,  but  of 
this  we  may  be  sure:  that  if  we  use  what 


28          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

strength  we  already  have  in  loving  God,  in  seek- 
ing him, — he  is  not  only  able  to  give  unto  us 
more  strength,  but  he  will  do  so.  "Unto  him  that 
hath  shall  be  given."  If  we  have  a  little  strength 
he  will  give  unto  us  more  strength. 

Does  not  John  the  Baptist  say  concerning 
Christ:  "For  he  whom  God  hath  sent  speaketh 
the  words  of  God :  for  God  giveth  not  the  Spirit 
by  measure  unto  him"?  (John  3:34.) 

If  then  God  has  given  his  Spirit  to  his  Son 
without  measure,  by  coming  to  Christ  we  may 
also  receive  strength  without  measure  to  love 
God  and  his  righteousness ;  for  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  strength,  and  without  him  there  is  no 
strength.  Now  this  Spirit  of  God  comes  to  us 
through  Jesus  Christ,  even  as  Christ  said:  "No 
man  cometh  to  the  Father  but  by  me,"  and  "I 
am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches." 

Yes,  that  same  strength-giving  and  life-giving 
sap,  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  flowed  through 
Christ, -can  give  unto  us  strength  to  love  God 
and  our  neighbor,  even  as  it  gave  strength  to 
Jesus  to  do  so. 

"And  with  all  thy  mind."  All  men  also  differ 
in  their  endowment  of  mental  power,  but  the 
plain  intent  of  the  above  phrase  is  that  we  should 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          29 

use  what  mental  power  we  already  have,  in  seek- 
ing God  and  his  righteousness,  for  in  doing  so 
would  be  manifested  the  fact  that  we  loved  him 
with  all  our  mind. 

God  does  not  require  impossibilities  of  us,  but 
only  that  we  should  use  what  mind  he  has 
already  given  us  in  loving  him, — in  seeking  him. 
If  we  do  this  he  will  surely  grant  unto  us  under- 
standing. 

Now  the  mind  of  the  natural  man  is  unable  to 
understand  the  things  of  God,  for  this  under- 
standing comes  through  the  Spirit  of  God  only; 
but  the  mind  of  man  is  able  to  seek  those  things 
and  to  meditate  upon  them,  and  if  we  do  this  with 
what  mental  powers  we  have  we  may  be  sure  that 
God  will  bless  us  with  his  Spirit,  and  that  we 
will  thereby  understand  these  things. 

What  a  blessed  thing  it  is  to  think  that  no 
matter  how  great  a  man's  education  may  be; 
though  he  may  be  a  graduate  of  many  colleges 
and  have  many  degrees  after  his  name,  yet  all 
these  advantages  will  not  profit  him  in  the  under- 
standing of  spiritual  things  except  he  love  the 
Lord  with  his  mind, — that  is,  seek  him. 

The  very  day-laborer  who  loves  God  with  all 
his  mind,  who  seeks  to  understand  the  things 


30          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

of  God  with  what  mental  powers  he  possesses, 
is  better  off  spiritually  than  the  man  of  many 
degrees  who  exercises  but  a  part  of  his  mind  in 
loving  God;  but  a  part  of  his  mental  power  in 
seeking  him  and  meditating  upon  his  righteous- 
ness. 

How  perfect  is  the  justice  of  God;  and  what 
a  comfort  it  ought  to  be  to  all  of  us  to  consider 
that  our  reward,  our  treasure,  is  not  given  with 
reference  to  what  we  have  in  the  line  of  edu- 
cation, but  with  reference  to  the  use  we  make 
of  what  we  have. 

If,  then,  we  use  all  our  mental  powers  in 
seeking  God,  in  meditating  upon  those  things 
which  are  of  him,  we  shall  fulfill  this  part  of 
God's  law :  to  love  God  with  all  our  mind. 

We  must  therefore  love  God,  not  only  with 
every  part  of  our  being,  but  with  all  of  every 
part. 

And  if  we  love  God  thus,  must  not  this  love 
manifest  itself,  make  itself  known  that  men  may 
see  it?  Yes,  whether  we  naturally  have  much  or 
little  heart,  soul,  strength  and  mind ;  if  we  love 
God  thus,  it  will  manifest  itself  in  good  works 
to  all  men.  For  if  we  love  God  thus,  we  will 
keep  his  commandment  to  love  our  neighbor  as 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          31 

ourselves.  This  love  was  the  love  which  Christ 
manifested  unto  us,  for  Christ  himself  could 
have  no  greater  love  than  this. 

This  love  is  a  perfect  love,  as  Christ  has  said: 
"Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."  (Matt.  5:48.) 
There  can  be  no  love  more  perfect  than  a  per- 
fect love.  Perfection  is  perfection  and  there  is 
no  further  perfection  beyond  it.  So  Christ  has 
manifested  forth  this  perfect  love  to  us,  and  is 
able  now  to  manifest  it  forth  in  us,  if  we  submit 
ourselves  entirely  to  him. 

His  love  must  always  be  the  same,  now  and 
evermore,  and  if  we  give  ourselves  wholly  to  him, 
he  is  able  to  enter  into  us,  and  occupy  every  part 
of  our  being  with  a  perfect  love.  For  he  has 
said :  "At  that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  my 
Father,  and  ye  in  me,  and  I  in  you."  (John 
14:20.) 

If  then,  he  be  in  us,  he  is  able  to  be  in  us  still 
more  abundantly,  until  finally  we  shall  be  per- 
fected in  him,  and  there  shall  be  no  part  of  our 
being  where  he  is  not.  We  shall  truly  be  his 
entirely,  we  in  him,  and  he  in  us,  in  all  possible 
fullness;  as  he  says  in  John  15:4,  "Abide  in  me, 
and  I  in  you."  And,  as  a  further  clue  to  how 


32          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

this  may  be  done,  he  says  in  the  seventh  verse, 
"If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you, 
ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done 
unto  you." 

Therefore  if  his  words  abide  in  us,  we  shall 
abide  in  him,  and  he  will  abide  in  us. 

If  his  words  abide  in  us  sparingly,  he  will 
abide  in  us  sparingly.  If  his  words  abide  in  us 
abundantly,  he  will  abide  in  us  abundantly. 

He  says:  "Ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it 
shall  be  done  unto  you."  As  Jesus  said  when  he 
raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead :  "Father,  I  thank 
thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me. 

"And  I  knew  that  thou  hearest  me  always : 
but  because  of  the  people  which  stand  by  I  said 
it,  that  they  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me."  (John  n  141,  42.)  Even  so  shall  we  know 
that  the  Father  hears  us  always,  for  he  hear- 
eth  always  the  Son,  and  the  Son  shall  be  in 
us  at  that  perfect  day  in  the  greatest  possible 
degree. 

So  to  have  in  you  this  perfect  love ;  to  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  all  thy 
soul,  and  all  thy  strength,  and  all  thy  mind, 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  is  eternal  life — com- 
plete eternal  life. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          33 
SECTION  u.    In  John  12:  25  we  find,  "He  that  Christ's 

,  .,.        ,  .  disciple  will 

loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it  ;    and  he  that  hateth  forsake  ail 
his   life   in   this   world   shall   keep   it   unto   life  that  inten>oses 

between  hira- 


self  and  God 

Now  if  a  man  have  eternal  life  he  must  love 
the  Lord  and  his  righteousness  above  all  other 
things,  as  is  evidenced  by  Luke  14:33:  "So 
likewise  whosoever  he  be  of  you  that  forsaketh 
not  all  that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple." 

Now  for  a  man  to  forsake  all  that  he  has  for 
something  is  clear  proof  that  he  loves  that  some- 
thing more  than  he  loves  all  that  he  has.  In  this 
case  that  something  for  love  of  which  he  for- 
sakes all  is  God  and  his  righteousness  as  repre- 
sented in  Jesus  Christ. 

Now  we  know  that  no  man  can  come  to  God 
or  know  his  righteousness  save  through  Christ. 
"No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me." 
(John  14:6.  )  He  that  comes  to  God  through 
Christ  is  a  disciple  of  Christ.  Hence,  as  I  said 
at  the  beginning  of  this  section,  if  a  man  have 
eternal  life  he  must  love  the  Lord  and  his  right- 
eousness above  all  other  things. 

Now  there  is  but  one  obstruction  which  inter- 
poses between  the  man  who  has  eternal  life,  and 
the  Lord  and  his  righteousness,  and  that  obstruc- 


34          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

tion  is  his  existence  in  a  material  world.  When 
he  loses  this  sense  of  existence,  his  union  and 
oneness  with  Christ,  and  through  Christ  with 
God  is  made  perfect.  "I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me, 
that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one."  (John 
17:23.) 

How  can  a  man  love  the  very  obstruction 
which  keeps  him  from  the  dearest  object  of  his 
affection, — the  object  that  he  places  above  all 
other  things  put  together?  Will  he  not  rather 
hate  it  with  strong  hatred  ?  Is  it  not  that  which 
keeps  him  from  complete  oneness  with  God  and 
his  righteousness — the  one  thing  which  prevents 
his  will  from  becoming  identical  with  God's  will  ? 

Yes,  he  that  has  eternal  life  must,  indeed,  not 
only  hate  life  in  a  material  sense,  the  life  of,  and 
in  this  world;  but  also  all  things  in  the  world 
which  interpose  between  him  and  God's  right- 
eousness. 

SECTION  12.  Now  in  summing  up,  we  have 
Summary  Christ's  word  for  it  that  it  is  eternal  life : 

1.  To  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  To  labor  for  that  meat  which  the  Son  of 
man  gives  unto  us, — the  meaning  of  the  word. 

3.  To  drink  of  the  water  that  Christ  gives  us, 
— the  word  in  its  true  meaning. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          35 

4.  To  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the  blood  of 
Christ, — or  to  eat  of  the  living  bread. 

5.  To    have    in    you    the   commandment,    or 
word,  of  God. 

6.  To  hear  Christ's  word  and  believe  on  him 
that  sent  him. 

7.  To  believe  on  Jesus  Christ. 

8.  To  keep  Christ's  saying. 

9.  To  be  righteous. 

10.  To  love  the  Lord  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and 
with  all  thy  mind;   and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 

11.  To  hate  one's  life  in  this  world.   (Because 
we  love  righteousness,  and  hate  unrighteousness.) 

To  apply  the  test  of  truth  to  these  sayings  is 
not  only  allowable,  but  very  desirable,  since  truth 
is  not  a  thing  which  need  fear  investigation,  but 
is  rather  confirmed  and  made  stronger  by  it. 

We  have  here  eleven  different  things,  any  one 
of  which  Christ  declares  equivalent  to  eternal 
life.  In  order  for  these  each  to  be  equivalent  to 
eternal  life,  they  must  all  be  in  perfect  harmony. 
If  they  do  not  harmonize,  the  presumption  would 
be  strong  that  we  had  either  derived  a  wrong 
interpretation  of  some  of  them,  or  that  these 


36          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

declarations  and  words  of  Christ  were  not  the 
truth. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  all  these  varying  declara- 
tions of  Christ  agree  together,  then  the  presump- 
tion of  their  truth  is  vastly  increased,  even  to 
the  mind  of  the  unbeliever;  for  truth  must  be 
in  harmony  with  itself,  and  these  doctrines  would 
therefore  fill  that  requirement. 

The  fact  that  the  interpretations  as  given  agree 
together  in  one,  would  also  be  a  strong  presump- 
tion that  they  were  correctly  given  as  far  as 
they  went. 

We  will  take  any  one  of  these  definitions  of 

eternal  life  as, — to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ 

is  eternal  life,  and  ascertain  if  they  all  agree 

together  with  this.     If  they  do,  an  exceedingly 

strong  presumption  is  thereby  derived,  not  only 

that  the  word  of  Christ  is  the  truth,  but  that  the 

interpretations  are  correct  as  far  as  given. 

TO  labor  for       SECTION  13.    Let  us  take  the  second  definition, 

Christ  gives  — "to  labor  for  that  meat  which  the  Son  of  man 

us  is  to  gives  unto  us  is  eternal  life ;  and  consider  it  with 

a^Tchrist  relation  to  the  first, — "to  know  God  and  Jesus 

Christ  is  eternal  life/' 

As  we  have  previously  seen,  it  is  necessary 
that  we  labor,  if  we  wish  to  obtain  this  meat 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          37 

which  Christ  gives  unto  us;  there  is  treasure 
here  in  the  word  of  God,  but  it  must  first  be  dug 
out  if  we  wish  to  make  it  our  own. 

That  the  invariable  effect  of  labor  spent  on 
the  word  will  be  to  make  these  treasures  ours,  is 
rendered  evident  by  Matt.  7 : 8,  "For  everyone 
that  asketh  receiveth;  and  he  that  seeketh  find- 
eth ;  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be 
opened." 

If,  then,  we  seek  with  diligence  for  that  meat 
which  endureth  unto  eternal  life ;  if  we  labor  for 
it,  we  shall  find  it.  If  we  continue  knocking  with 
persistence  at  this  door  which  leads  to  knowledge 
of  God,  this  door  will  be  opened  to  us,  and  we 
shall  enter  in,  into  a  gradually  increasing  knowl- 
edge of  God. 

Thus  we  find  that  to  labor  for  this  meat  is 
equivalent  to  obtaining  it,  and  to  obtain  it  is  to 
know  God  and  Jesus  Christ ;  since  the  true 
Christ-given  meaning  of  the  word  makes  known 
both  God  and  Christ  to  all  men.  Hence,  to  labor 
for  that  meat  which  the  Son  of  man  gives  unto 
us — the  true  meaning  of  the  word — and,  to  know 
God  and  Jesus  Christ,  agree  together  in  one; 
both  lead  to  eternal  life;  both  are  necessary  to 
eternal  life ;  by  both  we  are  led  into  a  clearer 


38          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

conception  of  the  Christ-given  meaning  of  eternal 
life. 

thJwate^that       SECTION  T4-    Third  we  have —to  drink  of  the 
Christ  gives  water  that  Christ  gives  us — the  word — is  eternal 

US  fS  Godkand  Hfe'    N°W  knowled£e  of  God  and  Christ  is  made 
Christ  known  to  man  by  the  word  of  Christ,  therefore 
he  that  drinks  of  this  word,  that  absorbs  it  into 
himself,  comes  to  know  both  God  and  Christ. 

He  that  drinks  sparingly  of  the  true  meaning 
of  this  word  will  be  feeble  in  knowledge  of  God, 
and  he  that  drinks  abundantly  will  have  abundant 
knowledge  of  God. 

Therefore,  to  drink  of  the  water  that  Christ 
gives  us — the  word — and,  to  know  God  and 
Jesus  Christ,  agree  together,  and  both  make 
more  apparent  to  us  what  Christ  means  by  eter- 
nal life.  According  as  one  drinks  so  will  be  his 
knowledge  of  both  God  and  Christ. 

TO  partake  of       SECTION    15.     Fourth, — to  eat  the   flesh  and 

and^bioocMs  drink  the  blood  of  Christ,  or  to  eat  of  the  living 

to  know  God  bread  is  eternal  life.  He  that  eats  the  flesh — the 

and  Christ  word_and    drinks    the    blood— the    Spirit— of 

Christ,   or   eats   of   the   living   bread — the   true 

meaning  of  the  word, — will  thereby  know  both 

God  and  Christ,  since  both  are  in  the  word  made 

known  to  man.    If  the  word  becomes  part  of  us 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          39 

spiritually,  as  the  bodily  nourishment  we  eat  be- 
comes part  of  us  physically,  so  also  will  knowl- 
edge of  both  God  and  Christ  be  in  us. 

Thus  we  find  that  to  know  God  and  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the  blood 
of  Christ,  or  to  eat  of  the  living  bread,  also  agree 
together,  both  helping  to  make  plainer  Christ's 
meaning  of  eternal  life. 

SECTION  16.    Fifth,— to  have  in  you  the  com-  Tu°  have Jin rus 

J  the  word  of 

mandment,  or  word,  of  God  is  eternal  life.  God  is  to 

It  is   logically  apparent  that  he   who  has   in  know  God 

'  and  Christ 

him  the  commandment,  or  word,  of  God,  m  its 
true  meaning,  must  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ ; 
since  both  are  through  the  word  made  known 
to  man. 

It  is  clear  also,  that  he  who  has  in  him  but  a 
part  of  the  true  meaning  of  the  word,  can  have 
but  a  partial  knowledge  of  God  and  Christ;  that 
as  the  true  meaning  of  the  word  increases  within 
him,  so  also  must  knowledge  of  God  and  Christ 
increase  within  him,  until  finally  when  the  com- 
mandment of  God  is  in  him  perfected,  his  knowl- 
edge of  God  and  Christ  must  also  be  perfected. 
"For  we  know  in  part  and  we  prophesy  in  part. 
But  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  then 
that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done  away."  "For 


40          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly;  but  then 
face  to  face :  now  I  know  in  part ;  but  then  shall 
I  know  even  as  also  I  am  known."  (I  Cor.  13: 
9,  10,  12.) 

We  thus  see  the  constant  and  intimate  relation 
existing  between  the  commandment  of  God  in 
us,  and  knowledge  of  God  and  Jesus  Christ  in  us. 

We  find  therefore  that  these  two  definitions  of 
eternal  life  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  each 
other. 

TO  hear       SECTION  17.    Sixth,  to  hear  Christ's  word  and 
Chrifl  r°rd  believe  on  him  that  sent  him  is  eternal  life. 

and    believe 

on  him  that       As  we  have  seen   ( Section  6),  the  necessary 
sent  him   is  reiation  existing  between  the  hearing  of  Christ's 

to   know   God 

and  Christ  word  and  the  believing  on  him  that  sent  him, 
indicates  that  the  believing  is  to  be  the  result 
of  the  hearing. 

Now  we  must  all  admit  that  for  a  man  to  hear 
anything  without  understanding  it  in  some  de- 
gree, profits  him  nothing.  The  profit  lies  in  the 
understanding,  for  the  words  themselves  are  only 
so  many  dry  bones,  being  but  symbols  standing 
in  the  place  of  meaning.  Accordingly  if  the 
meaning  be  not  in  some  degree  understood,  the 
hearing  is  profitless. 

In  this  case,  however,  the  hearing  is  followed 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          41 

by  believing  on  him  that  sent  him,  the  result  of 
both  being  eternal  life.  This  could  by  no  means 
be  called  profitless,  but  rather  profitable  in  the 
highest  degree ;  therefore  the  hearing  of  Christ's 
word  here  spoken  of  must  be  a  hearing  accom- 
panied by  understanding. 

This  being  the  case,  both  God  and  Christ  must 
in  some  degree  be  made  known  to  the  hearer. 
Hence  to  hear  Christ's  word  and  believe  on  him 
that  sent  him,  and  to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ, 
are  perfectly  harmonious  and  present  different 
views  of  the  same  thing, — eternal  life. 

SECTION    18.     Seventh,   to  believe  on   Jesus  TO  believe 
Christ  is  eternal  life.  ™  Jesus 

Christ  is  to 

It  is  very  apparent  that  for  a  person  to  believe  know  God 
on  anything,  he  must  first  be  acquainted  with  it,  and  Christ 
or  know  it  in  some  satisfactory  degree.    For  how 
can  a  man  believe  on  a  thing  of  which  he  has  no 
knowledge?     How   can   a   man   accept  that   of 
which  he  is  ignorant? 

How  could  you,  for  instance,  have  a  well- 
grounded  belief  that  Mr.  X,  a  man  totally  un- 
known to  you  and  your  friends,  was  entirely 
honest,  when  you  knew  nothing  of  him  from 
any  source? 

Then,  since  it  is  impossible  for  one  to  have 


42          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

a  logical  belief  in  regard  to  anything  without 
some  knowledge  of  that  thing,  it  naturally  fol- 
lows that  any  man  who  believes  on  Jesus  Christ 
must  therefore  know  him  in  some  satisfactory 
degree,  and  he  who  knows  Christ  knows  God  as 
well, — "I  and  my  Father  are  one"  (John  10 :  30)  ; 
and  "If  ye  had  known  me,  ye  should  have  known 
my  Father  also."  (John  14:7.) 

Hence  he  who  believes  on  Jesus  Christ  must 
therefore  know  both  God  and  Christ.  These 
two  things  thus  agree,  and  each  helps  to  make 
plainer  that  fullness  of  meaning  which  Christ 
intended  the  words  eternal  life  should  bear. 
TO  keep  SECTION  1 9.  Eighth,  to  keep  Christ's  saying  is 

.."S    eternal  life.    ' 

know  God       He  that  keeps  Christ's  saying  must  first  know 

and  Christ  the  saying  before  he  can  keep  it;    and  he  that 

knows  Christ's  saying  and  keeps  it,  also  knows 

both    God   and   Christ,    since   both   are   thereby 

made  known  to  man. 

We  find  that  a  knowledge  of  the  saying,  and 
consequently  a  knowledge  of  both  God  and 
Christ,  must  precede  the  keeping  of  it.  There 
is  thus  an  intimate  and  harmonious  connection 
between  the  two,  and  by  means  of  both  our 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          43 

understanding  of  eternal  life  is  rendered  more 
complete. 

SECTION  20.    Ninth,  to  be  righteous  is  eternal  To  ^  r'ght~ 

ecus  is  to 
life.  know  God 

Now  we  know  that  the  righteousness  of  God  and  Christ 
is  as  far  above  the  righteousness  of  man  as  the 
heavens  are  above  the  earth. 

When  Christ  speaks  of  being  righteous  he 
surely  means  the  highest  kind  of  righteousness ; 
that  perfect  righteousness  which  is  of  God,  which 
he  himself  possessed.  We  know  that  no  man  has 
ever  attained  to  this  perfect  righteousness,  while 
in  the  form  of  man,  save  Jesus  Christ  only. 

In  section  nine,  we  found  that  complete  real- 
ization destroys  the  existence  of  faith,  since  faith 
is  in  regard  to  things  hoped  for,  and  if  there 
was  nothing  left  to  be  hoped  for,  faith  could 
not  exist. 

In  regard  to  knowledge  of  God,  for  instance, 
we  have  faith  that  we  shall  come  to  know,  even 
as  we  are  known.  Paul  says,  "Now  I  know  in 
part;  but  then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I  am 
known."  (I  Cor.  13: 12.)  Now  God  knows  us 
perfectly,  and  in  order  to  realize  this  object  of 
faith,  we  must  also  come  to  know  him  perfectly, 
in  his  character;  when  however  we  do  come  to 


44          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

know  God  perfectly,  further  faith  on  this  subject 
becomes  impossible,  since  faith  disappears  in  per- 
fect knowledge. 

We  see  on  the  other  hand,  that  faith  in  God 
without  any  knowledge  of  him  is  equally  impos- 
sible, for  how  can  one  believe  or  have  faith  in 
that  of  which  he  knows  nothing? 

We  see  plainly  that  some  knowledge  of  the 
object  of  faith  is  necessary  in  order  for  faith  to 
exist.  Furthermore  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that 
as  our  knowledge  of  God  is  imperfect,  so  also 
our  faith  in  God  must  be  imperfect ;  that  as  our 
knowledge  of  God  is  abundant,  so  must  our  faith 
in  God  be  abundant ;  that  as  our  knowledge  of 
God  increases,  our  faith  in  God  also  increases, 
until  as  our  knowledge  of  God  (in  respect  to  the 
quality  of  Being),  becomes  perfect,  our  faith  in 
God  also  becomes  perfect:  that  is  our  faith  be- 
comes merged  in  perfect  knowledge. 

Going  back  to  the  matter  of  righteousness, 
even  as  our  faith  in  God  increases  proportion- 
ally with  our  knowledge  of  God,  so  also  does  our 
righteousness  increase  proportionally  with  our 
knowledge  of  God,  since  our  righteousness  on 
earth  is  by  faith.  As  Paul  says,  "Even  the 
righteousness  of  God  which  is  by  faith  of  Jesus 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          45 

Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all  them  that  believe." 
Let  it  be  noted  that  if  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ 
be  a  perfect  faith,  his  knowledge  also  is  a  per- 
fect knowledge.  "As  the  Father  knoweth  me, 
even  so  know  I  the  Father."  (John  10:15.) 

At  that  time,  then,  when  a  perfect  righteous- 
ness is  attained  to,  must  also  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  God  (his  character,  rather  than  his  in- 
finity) be  attained  to;  and  if  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  God,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  Christ  also,  since 
we  come  to  know  God  through  Christ.  "No 
man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  (John 
14:6.)  "I  and  my  Father  are  one."  (John 
10:30.) 

Therefore  we  find  that,  to  be  righteous  is 
eternal  life,  and  to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ 
is  eternal  life,  agree  together. 

SECTION  21.    Tenth,  to  love  God  with  all  thy  T°lov*  God 

and  our 

heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  neighbor  is 
strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind;   and  thy  neigh-  to  know .God 
bor  as  thyself  is  eternal  life. 

In  order  to  love  anyone  it  is  first  necessary 
that  we  should  be  acquainted  with,  or  know  him 
in  some  degree.  One  could  not  love  a  person 
whom  he  neither  knew  nor  knew  of.  Some 
knowledge  then  of  God  and  his  character  is 


46          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

absolutely  necessary  before  we  can  love  him 
at  all. 

If  our  knowledge  of  him  be  small,  our  love  for 
him  must  necessarily  be  small ;  if  our  knowledge 
of  him  be  great,  our  love  for  him  must  be  cor- 
respondingly great,  since  God  is  perfect. 

If  our  knowledge  of  God  be  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge, our  love  for  him  must  be  a  correspondingly 
perfect  love,  and  we  shall  love  him  with  all  our 
heart,  and  with  all  our  soul,  and  with  all  our 
strength,  and  with  all  our  mind. 

Now,  having  the  power  to  keep  the  first  and 
great  commandment  perfectly,  must  carry  with 
it  the  power  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves, 
for  obedience  to  this  first  and  great  command- 
ment implies  perfection.  If  we  possess  the 
power  to  love  God  with  a  perfect  love,  we  must 
possess  the  will  to  obey  all  his  commandments. 
"If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words." 
(John  14:23.) 

We  find  therefore  that  there  is,  and  neces- 
sarily must  be,  a  constant  relation  between  our 
knowledge  of  God  and  Christ, — for  we  have 
seen  that  we  can  only  know  God  through  Christ, 
— and  our  love  for  God  and  our  neighbor:  that 
both  agree,  and  give  us  a  fuller  idea  of  the  mean- 
ing of  eternal  life. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          47 
SECTION  22.     Eleventh, — to  hate  one's  life  in  To  hate  an 

-  .  t  ,    .  i   i-r  unspiritual 

this  world  is  eternal  life.  iife  is  to 

As  we  have  previously  seen,  to  know  God,  to  know  God 

,         i  i      ,,  ,.  -  ,  .  .  and   Christ 

comprehend  merely  the  motives  of  his  action,  we 
must  partake  of  his  nature.  That  Spirit  which 
is  in  him  must  also  be  in  us. 

If  now,  that  Spirit  which  is  in  him  be  in  us, 
we  will  love,  not  the  things  which  are  of  this 
world,  but  the  things  which  pertain  to  God  and 
his  righteousness.  Contrariwise,  we  will  hate 
those  things  which  keep  us  from  the  righteous- 
ness of  God ;  and  our  life  in  this  world, — con- 
sidered as  material  existence, — comprises  those 
things. 

As  we  have  seen  that  our  love  for  God  and 
our  knowledge  of  him  are  proportional  to  each 
other,  so  also  our  love  for  God  and  our  hatred 
for  our  lives  in  this  world  may  be  said  to  be 
proportional. 

There  are  however  other  elements  which  ap- 
parently enter  into  this  matter,  it  being  evident 
that  a  disciple  of  Christ  who  lives  surrounded  by 
wickedness  and  sin  of  pronounced  character,  must 
hate  his  life  more  than  one  who  lives  more 
secluded  from  the  wickedness  of  the  world,  and 
whose  associates  are  of  the  same  spiritual  mind 
with  himself. 


48          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

However  it  would  be  well  to  bear  in  mind  that 
such  a  disciple  as  the  one  first  mentioned  may 
have  placed  himself  in  those  wicked  surround- 
ings designedly,  urged  on  by  his  love  for  God 
and  his  consequent  desire  to  do  God's  work. 
Every  disciple  has  work  to  do,  but  it  is  perhaps 
not  the  duty  of  everyone  to  go  out  into  the  world 
to  do  it.  Some  may  do  it  best  at  home  and 
among  their  own  associates. 

But  it  is  logically  apparent  that  he  who  knows 
God  and  Jesus  Christ  will  hate  his  life  in  this 
world  in  proportion  as  it  is  in  opposition  to  the 
perfect  spiritual  life.  All  life  in  this  world  (con- 
sidered as  material  existence)  is  in  opposition  to 
perfect  spiritual  life,  but  in  some  cases  especially 
so.  It  is  clear  that  while  the  degree  of  our  hatred 
for  our  lives  in  this  world  is  largely  determined 
by  the  degree  of  contrast  offered  between  our 
lives  here,  and  the  perfect  Christian  or  spiritual 
life;  while  it  is  plain  that  this  contrast  varies 
somewhat  in  intensity  as  between  different  men, 
yet  it  is  also  plain  that  there  does  exist  a  pro- 
nounced contrast  in  the  case  of  everyone,  and 
that  there  should  consequently  exist  in  the  case 
of  everyone  this  hatred  of  his  life  in  this  world, 
conditioned  as  a  material  existence. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          49 

So  also  the  degree  of  pain  produced  in  us  by 
the  contemplation  of  the  wickedness  >  and  sin 
which  is  not  only  around  us  all,  but  in  some 
measure  in  us  all,  and  consequently  the  degree 
of  our  hatred  for  our  lives  in  this  world,  is 
largely  determined  by,  and  is  proportional  to,  our 
knowledge  of  God  and  his  perfect  righteousness. 
Thus  it  is  logically  true  that  he  who  knows  God 
and  Jesus  Christ  must  hate  his  life  considered  as 
a  thing  of  this  world. 

Hence  we  find  that,  to  know  God  and  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  hate  one's  life  in  this  world,  agree 
together  and  make  plainer  to  us  what  eternal 
life  is. 

SECTION  23.    All  these  different  conceptions  of  complete 
eternal  life  agree  together  in  one  with  the  state-  hfrmony  oi 

^  all  these  def- 

ment   that   to   know   God   and   Jesus   Christ   is  initions  is  a 
eternal  life,  showing  us  that  these  are  not  dif-  proof  of  truth 
ferent   conceptions,   but   different    faces   of   the 
same  conception, — that  they  are  merely  different 
parts  of  one  and  the  same  thing,  eternal  life. 

Complete  eternal  life  therefore  includes  all 
these  things. 

These  different  definitions  not  only  agree  with 
the  first  definition  that  to  know  God  and  Jesus 
Christ  is  eternal  life,  but  are  also  in  perfect 


50          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

harmony  with  each  other.  Each  one  agrees  with 
every  other  one. 

As  we  know  that  truth  must  be  in  harmony 
with  itself,  and  as  we  have  seen  in  part  that  this 
harmony  exists  here,  so  we  will  by  further  in- 
vestigation seek  to  discover  a  complete  harmony ; 
to  make  evident  that  here  we  have  by  correct 
interpretation  an  invulnerable  network  of  truth. 

In  respect  to  definitions  2,  3,  4,  and  5,  as  given 
in  the  preceding  list  in  Section  12,  it  is  self- 
evident  that  in  view  of  the  interpretations  placed 
upon  them,  they  are  not  only  harmonious  with, 
but  equivalent  to  each  other. 

For,  the  fourth, — to  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the 
blood  of  Christ  (to  read  the  word  and  absorb 
the  spirit  of  Christ),  or,  to  eat  of  the  living  bread 
(to  absorb  the  true  meaning  of  the  word),  is  in 
both  parts  plainly  equivalent  to  the  third  defini- 
tion,— drinking  of  the  water  that  Christ  gives 
us  (the  word  in  its  true  meaning.) 

These  two  in  turn  are  equivalent  to  the  second 
definition, — to  labor  for  that  meat  which  the  Son 
of  man  gives  us,  this  meat  being  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  word.  We  are  told  that  if  we  seek  we 
shall  find,  therefore  to  labor  for  this  meat  is  to 
obtain  it. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          51 

All  these  definitions  are  equivalent  to  the  fifth, 
— having  in  them  the  commandment,  or  word, 
of  God.  To  have  the  commandment  at  all  they 
must  have  it  in  its  real  meaning,  and  this  is  also 
the  result  of  the  second,  third  and  fourth  def- 
initions. 

The  sixth  definition, — to  hear  Christ's  word 
and  believe  on  him  that  sent  him  is  in  harmony 
with  the  fifth,  since  to  hear  Christ's  word  is 
equivalent  to  hearing  the  word  or  command- 
ment of  God ;  and  to  believe  on  God  by  hearing 
the  word,  presupposes  the  understanding  of  its 
true  meaning. 

The  sixth  definition  is  equivalent  to  the  sev- 
enth,— believing  on  Jesus  Christ,  for  does  not 
Christ  say,  "He  that  believeth  on  me,  believeth 
not  on  me,  but  on  him  that  sent  me"?  (John 
12:44.) 

The  eighth  definition, — to  keep  Christ's  say- 
ing is  eternal  life,  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
seventh,  since  it  is  apparent  that  none  will  keep 
Christ's  saying,  save  those  who  do  believe  on  him. 

Now  the  ninth, — to  be  righteous  is  eternal  life, 
— is  equivalent  to  the  eighth,  since  Christ's  say- 
ing is  the  commandment  of  God,  and  he  that 
keeps  this  commandment  of  God  is  righteous. 


52          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

The  tenth  definition, — to  love  the  Lord  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all 
thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself, — is  also  equivalent  to  the 
ninth ;  since  Christ  says  respecting  the  two  com- 
mandments included  under  definition  ten,  "On 
these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets."  (Matt.  22:40.)  Now  he  that 
fulfills  all  the  law  is  righteous. 

Definition  eleven, — to  hate  one's  life  in  this 
world  (considered  as  material  existence,  from  a 
spiritual  point  of  view)  is  eternal  life,  is  also  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  tenth  definition,  since 
he  that  loves  God  thus  will  necessarily  hate  his 
life  in  this  world,  since  this  life  interposes  in  his 
consciousness  between  him  and  the  object  of  his 
greatest  affection. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  the  perfect  har- 
mony of  all  these  different  definitions  of  eternal  life. 

Furthermore  it  is  apparent  that  they  all  must 
harmonize  in  every  respect  when  taken  in  their 
proper  meaning,  since  they  are  all  in  harmony 
with  definition  one, — to  know  God  and  Jesus 
Christ  is  eternal  life,  and  since  it  is  evident  that 
definitions  in  harmony  with  the  same  definition 
must  agree  with  each  other. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          53 

Thus  we  see  that  each  strand  of  this  network 
of  truth  supports  and  renders  stronger  every 
other  strand,  and  that  there  is  perfect  harmony 
throughout. 

The  irresistible  force  of  this  will  appear  much 
greater  if  we  go  back  and  reflect  from  how 
many  different  forms  of  words  we  derived  these 
varying  definitions  of  eternal  life:  "everlasting 
life/7  "eternal  life/'  "shall  never  see  death/'  and 
"shall  live  forever." 

There  is  here  an  agreement  of  things  men- 
tioned under  different  forms  of  words,  but  hav- 
ing the  same  significance,  an  agreement  so  com- 
plete and  perfect  as  to  set  the  seal  of  God's  Spirit 
upon  it. 

SECTION  24.     There  are  also  other  ideas  in-  God's  gift  to 
eluded  in  the  conception  of  eternal  life,  as  in  "!!~elernalt, 

r  life,  through 

John  10: 10,  we  find,  "I  am  come  that  they  might  re-birth  and 
have   life,   and   that  they   might   have   it   more  *ruowth  in  ^ 

J  Christ  must 

abundantly."  be  accepted 

We  know  that  the  kind  of  life  which  Christ 
came  to  give  men  is  spiritual — eternal — life.  We 
learn  from  this  verse  that  this  life  is  of  a  kind 
which  men  do  not  by  nature  possess,  since  he 
says,  "I.  am  come  that  they  might  have  life." 
It  is  plain  that  Christ  considered  mankind  as 


54          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

spiritually  dead  by  nature,  since  if  it  were  not 
so,  there  would  have  existed  no  necessity  for  his 
coming  with  the  direct  object  of  giving  them  this 
spiritual  life,  nor  any  necessity  for  their  being 
born  again. 

Then  he  goes  on  to  say,  "and  that  they  might 
have  it  more  abundantly."  After  implying  that 
men  do  not  by  nature  have  this  kind  of  life,  he 
says  that  he  came  to  bring  them  more  of  it, 
thereby  implying  that  they  do  have  it. 

How  shall  we  reconcile  this  seeming  contra- 
diction ? 

There  is  but  one  conclusion  possible,  which 
is  that  mankind  by  nature  is  devoid  of  any  spiri- 
tual life  whatever;  that  if  men  individually  do 
possess  some  of  this  life,  it  is  because  of  the 
infinite  mercy  of  God,  who  gave  it  to  them,  since 
by  their  nature  as  men  they  do  not  possess  it. 

With  respect  to  the  physical  world  it  is  ap- 
parent that  the  physical  embryo  before  birth  can- 
not be  truly  said  to  live,  since  it  possesses  no 
separate  entity,  and  since  its  life  is  entirely  de- 
pendent on  the  life  of  the  parent.  What  life  it 
has  is  more  the  property  of  the  parent  than  of 
the  embryo,  and  remains  so  until  birth  is  com- 
plete. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          55 

So  it  is  with  spiritual  life.  As  the  life  of  the 
physical  embryo  does  not  become  its  own  till  its 
birth  into  the  physical  world  is  complete,  so  also 
the  life  of  the  spiritual  embryo  does  not  become 
its  own  until  its  entrance  into  the  spiritual  world 
is  complete. 

When  Christ  says,  "I  am  come  that  they  might 
have  life,"  it  is  apparent  he  means  that  they  must 
be  born  again  ere  they  can  possess  this  life. 

When  he  says,  "and  that  they  might  have 
it  more  abundantly,"  it  is  clear  he  means 
thereby  that  they  who  have  unborn  spiritual  life 
may  have  it  more  abundantly;  that  is  that  they 
may  be  born  again  and  thus  themselves  possess 
a  more  abundant  measure  of  that  spiritual  life 
which  was  before,  not  their  own  but  the  heavenly 
Father's. 

We  find  in  John  3 : 16,  "For  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life."  Here  again  we  have  ever- 
lasting life  the  same  as  eternal  life.  Here  we  see 
that  God  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  for  this 
purpose.  Eternal  life  is  therefore  a  free  gift  of 
God  to  us, — a  free  gift  of  God  through  his  Son. 

In  John  10 : 27,  28,  we  find,  "My  sheep  hear 


56          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

my  voice,  and  I  know  them,  and  they  follow  me : 
and  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life."  We  learn 
here  that  eternal  life  is  not  only  the  gift  of  God 
to  us,  but  that  it  is  the  gift  of  Christ  to  us  as 
well.  Thus  are  we  enabled  not  only  to  appreciate 
that  it  is  a  free  gift  to  us,  that  this  is  the  manner 
in  which  we  obtain  it,  that  we  have  but  to  accept 
this  gift  in  order  to  receive  all  the  manifold 
blessings  of  eternal  life ;  but  we  are  also  enabled 
to  understand  better  the  truth  of  the  fact  that 
God  and  Christ  are  one. 

We  find  here  also  the  thought  that  eternal  life 
being  a  gift,  must  like  any  other  gift  be  accepted 
or  rejected.  That  we  do  not  by  virtue  of  our 
birth  into  the  kingdom  of  men,  possess  eternal 
life,  but  by  virtue  of  our  acceptance  of  the  priv- 
ilege of  being  born  again  into  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

Some  eminent  minister  has  recently  said  that 
man  by  virtue  of  his  birth  as  man,  has  in  him  a 
divine  spark,  which  cannot  be  buried.  Perhaps 
not,  but  could  it  not  be  taken  back  to  God  who 
lent  it,  and  leave  the  unprofitable  servant  des- 
titute of  eternal  life?  "And  whosoever  hath  not. 
from  him  shall  be  taken  even  that  which  he  seem- 
eth  to  have/'  ^Luke  8: 18.) 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          57 

It  is  clear  that  we  must  accept  this  gift,  ere  we 
can  have  eternal, — spiritual, — life. 

SECTION  25.    Eternal  life  must  unquestionably  Our  incom- 

r  .     ,  plete  eternal 

be  perfect,  whether  we  have  it  here,  or  hereafter ;  ufe  here 
but  by  no  means  in  the  first  case  necessarily  com- 
plete, since  while  we  are  here,  eternal  life  can- 
not possess  us  completely.  Our  being,  as  it  were, 
is  divided  between  spiritual  life,  and  the  life  of 
the  flesh;  even  as  Paul  says,  "the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God."  (Romans  8:7.) 

Yet  it  is  plain  to  be  seen  that  we  cannot  be 
completely  separated  from  the  mind  of  the  flesh, 
while  we  dwell  in  the  flesh,  though  with  the  aid 
of  Christ  we  can  approach  close  to  it ;  and  could 
we  overcome  the  obstacle  of  the  flesh  sufficiently 
to  submit  ourselves  entirely  to  Christ,  the  result 
must  doubtless  be  a  perfectly  spiritual  mind,  as 
in  the  case  of  Christ. 

In  Section  21  we  find  that  there  exists  a  con- 
stant relation  between  our  knowledge  of  God 
and  our  love  for  God.  As  the  one  increases,  the 
other  necessarily  keeps  pace  with  it. 

Now  we  find  in  Section  n  that  to  be  a  dis- 
ciple of  Christ,  a  man  must  love  God  and  his 
righteousness  more  than  all  other  things  put  to- 
gether. We  find  that  all  who  come  to  God 


58          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

must  come  through  Christ;  that  all  who  really 
come  through  Christ  are  disciples  of  Christ ;  and 
that  all  true  disciples  of  Christ  have  entered  the 
process  of  re-birth,  at  least  embryonic  re-birth, 
and  therefore  have  some  measure  of  eternal  life. 

As  was  said  before,  our  love  for  God  keeps 
pace,  step  by  step,  with  our  knowledge  of  him. 
If  our  love  for  God  must  reach  a  certain  point 
before  we  can  be  true  disciples  of  Christ,  or  be 
born  again  so  as  to  be  true  children  of  God ;  so 
also  our  knowledge  of  God  must  reach  a  corre- 
sponding point  at  the  same  time. 

The  point  of  birth  into  a  true  child  of  God  is 
that  at  which  our  love  for  God  and  his  right- 
eousness is  greater  than  our  love  for  all  other 
things  whatsoever,  and  I  call  to  your  attention 
that  the  corresponding  point  in  regard  to  knowl- 
edge of  God  must  therefore  indicate  a  knowledge 
of  God  quite  advanced. 

These  two  points  denote  those  at  which  men 
become  true  sons  of  God.  "For  as  many  as  are 
led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of 
God."  (Romans  8:  14.)  We  may  be  sure  that 
any  who  have  reached  these  points  will  never 
backslide,  or  be  overcome  of  the  world,  but  will 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          59 

be  upheld  by  the  power  of  God.  "For  whatso- 
ever is  born  of  God  overcometh  the  world." 
(I  John  5:4.) 

Whosoever  therefore  has  doubts  as  to  whether 
he  loves  God  and  his  righteousness  more  than  all 
other  things,  may  well  also  have  doubts  as  to 
whether  he  is  a  true  child  of  God.  He  need  how- 
ever have  no  doubt  whatever,  that  with  continued 
diligence  in  seeking  God,  his  love  for  God  and 
his  righteousness  will  increase  to  this  point, 
which  when  it  reaches,  Christ  shall  be  revealed 
to  him  with  such  power  that  he  will  truly  believe 
on  him  with  a  belief  such  as  Christ  speaks  of, — 
a  belief  unto  eternal  life. 

Now  since  the  things  of  God  are  discerned  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  only, — "For  what  man  know- 
eth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man 
which  is  in  him?  even  so  the  things  of  God 
knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God,"  (I  Cor. 
2:11) — no  man  need  be  troubled  that  he  is 
without  learning,  neither  encouraged  because  he 
has  it.  For  we  know  that  learning  in  this  case 
avails  nothing,  but  rather  that  we  should  be  as 
little  children,  anxious  to  learn  of  God,  and  will- 
ing to  acknowledge  that  as  men  we  know  nothing 
of  him  as  we  ought.  "Verily  I  say  unto  you, 


60          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

Whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of  God 
as  a  little  child,  he  shall  not  enter  therein." 
(Mark  10:  15.)  And  surely  we  shall  receive  it 
as  little  children  if  we  feel  that  we  know  noth- 
ing as  yet  concerning  God,  as  we  ought  to  know 
it,  and  if  we  labor  diligently  and  without  ceasing 
to  learn  of  him. 

Perhaps  most  people  in  civilized  lands  know  in 
a  way,  that  God  is  just,  merciful  and  holy,  all 
wise,  all  powerful;  and  that  he  loves  all  man- 
kind with  a  mighty  love;  but  their  comprehen- 
sion of  these  qualities  in  him  is  generally  very 
inadequate.  As  we  have  seen,  to  know  means  to 
comprehend.  And  we  know  that  if  we  labor  for 
this  understanding,  God  will  bless  our  labor,  and 
give  unto  us  his  Spirit, — by  means  of  which  only 
is  understanding  of  these  things  possible, — 
according  as  we  labor. 

Let  us  take  a  short  look  at  that  complete 
eternal  life  which  shall  be  ours  in  due  time,  in 
order  that  we  may  not  faint,  nor  grow  weary, 
but  may  labor  abundantly  in  this  glorious  hope. 
Complete  SECTION  26.  As  we  have  seen  that  in  a  com- 
plete eternal  life  our  knowledge  of  God  and 
Christ  will  be  perfect,  so  also  our  belief  in  Jesus 
Christ  will  be  perfect, — that  is  will  merge  into 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          61 

perfect  knowledge  of  him.  Our  love  for  God 
will  be  a  perfect  love, — that  is  will  occupy  all  of 
every  part  of  our  being,  leaving  no  room  for  any 
other  love  whatever,  except  such  as  results  be- 
cause of  it ;  as,  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves, 
which  is  after  all  but  the  expression  of  God's 
love  in  us  toward  others. 

Further,  in  this  complete  eternal  life  the  com- 
mandment of  God  will  in  us  be  perfected, — that 
is  will  dwell  in  us  in  all  complete  and  possible 
fullness. 

We  shall  then  keep  Christ's  saying  perfectly, 
and  consequently  be  perfectly  righteous. 

Our  will  must  therefore  also  be  perfected  so  as 
to  be  identical  with,  and  even  as  God's  will ;  and 
as  Christ  has  informed  us  in  the  Lord's  prayer 
that  God's  will  is  always  done  in  heaven,  so  also 
must  our  wills  always  be  accomplished  there. 
Furthermore,  we  shall  comprehend  perfectly 
God's  mighty  love  for  us,  and  it  will  fill  us  with 
joy.  What  sources  of  perfect  happiness  are 
here! 

Paul  says,  "For  we  know  in  part,  and  we 
prophesy  in  part.  But  when  that  which  is  per- 
fect is  come,  then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be 
done  away.  For  now  we  see  through  a  glass 


62          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

darkly;  but  then  face  to  face:  now  I  know  in 
part;  but  then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I  am 
known."  (I  Cor.  13:9,  10,  12.) 

Christ's       SECTION  27.    Now  Christ  has  by  the  many  in- 
intended^to  stances  mentioned  in  different  parts  of  his  Cos- 
have  only  a  pel  regarding  the  generation  and  maintenance  of 
appiTcation  sPiritual  life :— by  eating  his  flesh  and  drinking 
his  blood  (John  6:  54) ;   by  eating  the  bread  of 
life  (John  6:  58)  ;   by  his  reference  to  the  meat 
which  endureth  unto  everlasting  life   (John  6: 
27) ;    and  by  his  reference  to  the  water  of  life 
(John  4:14),   thereby   drawn  a   plain   analogy 
between  the  processes  of  generating  and  main- 
taining physical   life,  and  those  processes  with 
reference  to  the  spiritual  life.     We  cannot  doubt 
that  he  intended  this  analogy  to  be  carried  out 
in  full,  or  he  would  not  have  used  it. 

Unquestionably  he  used  this  mode  of  expres- 
sion as  the  best  means  of  making  himself  plainly 
understood,  since  all  mankind  are  most  accus- 
tomed to  regarding  things  from  a  material  and 
physical  viewpoint,  and  he  has  therefore  ad- 
justed his  explanations  of  spiritual  generation 
and  growth  to  this  point  of  view;  at  the  same 
time  by  other  statements  making  plain  to  us  that 
he  intended  these  things  to  be  taken  spiritually, 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          63 

as:  "It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth" ; — causes 
to  live  spiritually — "the  flesh  profiteth  nothing: 
the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit, 
and  they  are  life/'  (John  6:  63.) 

This  verse  occurs  in  the  latter  part  of  the  same 
chapter  in  which  three  of  the  above  references 
occur,  and  is  unquestionably  in  further  explana- 
tion of  those  references.  If,  then,  it  be  true  that, 
"It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing/'  then  it  must  follow  that  the  meaning 
of  "flesh  and  blood"  in  the  saying,  "Whoso  eateth 
my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  hath  eternal  life, 
is  a  spiritual  meaning  only ;  for  if  it  did,  as  some 
believe,  apply  to  the  physical  flesh  and  blood  of 
Christ,  or  to  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  sacra- 
ment, then  would  it  be  a  material  application  and 
not  a  spiritual  one,  for  these  are  all  material 
things.  Hence  if  "the  flesh  profiteth  nothing/' 
none  of  these  things  can  be  a  cause  of  possessing 
"eternal  life,"  since  eternal  life  profits  much. 

If,  then  it  be  true  that  this  sacrament  of  the 
Church — the  Lord's  Supper — is  other  than  a 
symbolical  ceremony,  then  are  the  words  of 
Christ  untrue,  for  he  says,  "That  which  is  born 
of  the  flesh  is  flesh;  and  that  which  is  born  of 
the  Spirit  is  spirit."  (John  3:6.) 


64          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

No  man  can  deny  that  the  spirit  of  the  believer 
is  quickened  during  the  administration  of  the 
sacrament,  but  that  this  quickening  is  not  due 
to  the  bread  and  the  wine  is  clear. 

The  gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke 
agree  substantially  in  their  account  of  the  Lord's 
Supper:  he  blesses  the  bread  and  gives  to  them 
as  his  body;  takes  the  wine,  gives  thanks,  and 
bids  them  drink  of  it  as  his  blood  of  the  new 
testament,  shed  for  them. 

If  we  consider  what  possible  interpretations 
might  be  made  of  this,  we  shall  find  four, — the 
body  arid  blood  of  Christ  may  be  taken  to  mean : 

1.  The  spiritual  body  and  blood  of  Christ; 

2.  The  physical  body  and  blood  of  Christ; 

3.  That  the  bread  and  wine  were  intended  by 
Christ  to  represent  his  spiritual  body  and  blood ; 

4.  That  the  bread  and  the  wine  were  intended 
to  represent  his  physical  body  and  blood. 

Suppose,  as  in  the  first  instance,  that  we  take 
the  bread  and  wine  to  be  actually  the  spiritual 
body  and  blood  of  Christ.  But  we  know  that 
this  bread  and  wine  are  of  themselves  material 
things,  and  being  so,  cannot  at  the  same  time 
actually  be  spiritual. 

Here  some  may  say, — How  about  the  Bible? 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          65 

Is  not  that  at  the  same  time  a  book  and  also  the 
word  of  God?  The  book,  to  be  sure,  is  always 
a  material  thing  at  all  times.  But  when  the 
meaning  of  the  printed  book  becomes  impressed 
on  the  human  consciousness,  it  is  a  spiritual  thing, 
and  is  not  then  a  printed  book.  The  very  words 
of  the  Bible  are  but  symbols  standing  in  place  of 
meanings ;  and  these  meanings  impressed  on  the 
human  consciousness  are  spiritual,  while  the  sym- 
bols themselves  are  material  things. 

By  science — the  experience  of  men — and  by 
ordinary  reason,  we  know  that  one  thing  cannot 
at  the  same  time  be  another  thing. 

We  also  know  it  by  the  word  of  Christ,  since 
he  says,  "That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh ; 
and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit/' 
which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  material  things 
cannot  either  generate  or  renew  spiritual  life. 
And  here  let  it  be  said  that  if  to  some  the  Bible 
seems  to  generate  or  renew  spiritually,  they 
should  remember  that  it  is  only  the  Spirit  of  God 
which  makes  known  the  things  of  God :  so  that 
if  the  true  meaning  of  any  part  of  the  Bible  is 
impressed  on  our  consciousness,  this  impression 
which  renews  us  spiritually  is  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 


66          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

Hence  this  first  position  is  untenable  and  we 
will  dismiss  it  from  consideration. 

Second,  we  will  suppose  the  bread  and  wine  to 
be  actually  the  physical  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 

If  this  supposition  be  true,  then  the  bread  and 
the  wine  being  actually  the  physical  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  can  in  no  way  renew  us  spiri- 
tually. Why  so?  Because,  "That  which  is  born 
of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of 
the  Spirit  is  spirit."  This  being  true,  not  even 
the  physical  flesh  and  blood  of  Jesus  himself  will 
avail  to  give  us  spiritual  life,  and  Christ  himself 
testifies  that  this  is  true. 

Therefore  we  may  dismiss  the  second  supposi- 
tion as  untenable  also. 

We  will  take  the  third  supposition, — that  the 
bread  and  wine  were  intended  by  Christ  to 
merely  represent  his  spiritual  body  and  blood. 
If  they  merely  represent  and  actually  are  not  his 
spiritual  body  and  blood,  they  do  not  fulfill  the 
conditions  necessary  to  give  eternal  life,  for 
Christ  has  said,  "Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the 
Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life 
in  you.  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my 
blood,  hath  eternal  life." 

On  the  supposition  we  are  considering,  how- 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          67 

ever,  the  bread  and  the  wine  are  not  actually  the 
body  and  the  blood,  but  merely  represent  them, 
and  hence  cannot  give  eternal  life,  not  being 
themselves  the  source  of  it. 

Therefore  we  are  obliged  to  dismiss  this  third 
supposition  also,  since  eternal  life  is  not  thereby 
to  be  had. 

Now,  considering  the  fourth  supposition,  that 
the  bread  and  the  wine  are  intended  merely  to 
represent  his  physical  body  and  blood,  we  find 
that  if  the  actual  physical  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  cannot  give  to  us  eternal  life,  the  mere 
representatives  are  still  less  able  to  do  so. 

This  brings  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  say- 
ing, "Whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my 
blood  hath  eternal  life,"  does  not  apply  to  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  all,  but  rather 
to  the  word  of  Christ,  that  is  to  its  true  meaning 
impressed  on  our  consciousness, — as  is  evidenced 
by  John  i :  14,  "And  the  Word  was  made  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us." 

It  also  brings  us  to  the  conclusion  that  in  the 
bread  and  wine  of  the  sacrament  there  is  no 
eternal  life  whatever.  The  Lord's  Supper  then 
is  but  a  symbolical  ceremony,  calculated  to  bring 
home  to  our  consciousness  with  striking  force 


68          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

the  great  sacrifice  of  Christ  for  our  sakes, — to 
make  apparent  to  us  how  great  his  love  toward 
us  must  have  been.  Now  since  it  is  true  that 
love  begets  love,  that  the  realization  that  we  are 
much  loved  begets  in  us  a  like  feeling  toward 
him  who  loves  us,  the  practical  utility  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  clear,  as  it  brings  home  to  us 
the  love  of  Christ,  thereby  generating  in  us  a  like 
feeling  toward  him,  and  toward  the  Father  who 
sent  him  to  endure  all  this  for  our  sakes. 

If  there  are  those  who  would  urge  Christ's 
words  concerning  the  bread  and  wine:  "This  is 
my  body,"  and  "This  is  my  blood" ;  we  reply 
that  many  of  Christ's  sayings  can  only  be  inter- 
preted by  reference  to  his  other  words,  and  only 
by  this  harmonizing  of  all  his  words  are  we  able 
to  come  into  a  correct  understanding  of  some 
of  the  things  he  says. 

In  Luke  14 : 26  we  read,  "If  any  man  come 
to  me,  and  hate  not  his  father,  and  mother,  and 
wife,  and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  yea, 
and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple." 

If  we  were  to  interpret  this  literally,  as  some 
interpret  the  sayings  with  reference  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  it  would  lead  us  into  the  error  of  think- 
ing that  a  man  acquired  merit  by  hating  his 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          69 

father  and  his  mother;  but  the  Jesus  who  told 
us  to  "love  our  enemies"  could  not  mean  that  we 
should  hate  our  friends  and  relatives,  though  he 
apparently  says  so  as  clearly  as  could  well  be. 

This  verse  then  to  be  correctly  interpreted 
must  be  brought  into  perfect  harmony  with  that 
other  saying,  "Love  your  enemies/'  We  can 
interpret  it  harmoniously  if  we  hold  it  to  mean 
that  we  must  hate  the  spirit  of  this  world  which 
is  in  our  father  and  mother; — yes,  and  in  our- 
selves also.  What  Christ  really  says  here  is  that 
we  must  hate  all  things  which  interfere  to  keep 
us  from  God  and  from  doing  his  work,  as  he 
himself  said  to  Peter,  his  chief  apostle,  "Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan :  for  thou  savourest  not  the 
things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of  men." 
(Matt.  16:23.)  For  Peter  sought  to  restrain 
Jesus  from  doing  the  work  which  God  had  ap- 
pointed him  to  do.  Did  not  Jesus  hate  Satan? 
Yes,  even  though  this  evil  spirit  manifested  itself 
in  one  of  his  best  friends. 

We  cannot,  then,  interpret  Christ's  words  re- 
garding the  bread  and  wine  literally,  and  use  the 
human  reason  which  God  has  given  us  to  use. 
In  another  sense,  however,  we  find  that  these 
words  of  Jesus  are  true ;  for  while  we  do  not 


70          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

partake  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  in  par- 
taking of  the  Lord's  Supper,  yet  we  do  partake 
of  his  spiritual  body,  if  believing  on  him  as  the 
Son  of  God  who  sacrificed  himself  for  us,  we 
feel  our  love  kindling  toward  him.  In  loving 
that  which  is  good  we  have  in  us  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  himself. 

If  we  then  in  taking  part  in  this  sacrament,  by 
the  force  with  which  it  brings  home  to  us  the 
love  of  Jesus  for  us,  also  experience  an  increased 
love  for  him,  in  partaking  of  this  Spirit  of  love, 
we  do  partake  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
since  Christ  is  a  Spirit,  a  Spirit  not  only  of 
obedience  to  righteousness,  but  a  Spirit  of  sacri- 
fice for  the  soul  welfare  of  others. 

John  the  beloved  says,  "God  is  love,"  and  Jesus 
says,  "I  and  my  Father  are  one/'  Jesus  must 
therefore  have  referred  to  the  kindling  of  love 
for  him  in  the  heart  of  the  disciple  which  doing 
this  in  remembrance  of  Christ,  as  he  commanded, 
must  produce. 

If  a  deaf  man  who  had  never  heard  the  Gospel 
or  read  the  Bible,  should  come  into  church  and 
join  the  people  at  the  Communion  table  in  par- 
taking of  the  bread  and  wine,  it  is  perfectly  clear 
that  it  could  profit  him  nothing.  Or  if  a  man 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          71 

familiar  with  the  Gospel,  but  not  believing  in 
Jesus'  sacrifice  for  our  sakes,  should  take  part  in 
the  Communion,  because  everyone  else  did ;  it  is 
evident  that  he  would  receive  no  benefit.  There 
is  no  eternal  life  in  the  bread,  or  in  the  wine, 
either  for  him  or  for  anyone  else. 

Where  then  is  the  eternal  life?  In  knowing 
Christ — in  realizing  the  spirit  in  which  Jesus 
sacrificed  his  life.  We  must  realize  this  spirit, 
if  we  believe  on  him  and  understand  that  he 
gave  his  life  for  our  sakes ;  for  this  in  itself 
shows  us  that  he  must  have  done  it  in  a  spirit  of 
love  for  us.  This  understanding  is  not  only  of 
the  mind,  but  of  the  heart,  and  apart  from  it, 
there  can  be  no  eternal  life  in  the  Lord's  Supper 
for  anyone. 

Now  this  heart  comprehension  comes  to  us  by 
the  word  of  God.  It  is  a  logical  conclusion  then, 
that  there  is  no  eternal  life  which  does  not  come 
from  the  word  of  God,  as  Jesus  says,  "the  words 
that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit  and  they 
are  life." 

Whether  we  speak  of  the  "Word  of  God"  as 
the  words  which  Jesus  spoke,  impressed  on  our 
consciousness  and  heart  in  their  intended  mean- 
ing; or  speak  of  it  as  Christ, — that  is  the  Spirit 


72          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

in  which  they  were  spoken,  is  all  one:  since  it 
is  clear  that  an  understanding  of  the  intended 
meaning  of  Christ's  words  generates  in  us  the 
Spirit  in  which  they  were  spoken. 

Meaning  impressed  on  consciousness  and  heart 
is  spirit.  If  you  are  told  that  some  man  hates 
you,  and  the  words  or  incident  related  which  lead 
to  that  conclusion ;  if  you  have  not  Christ  already 
in  you,  it  must  inevitably  follow  that  when  this 
becomes  impressed  on  your  consciousness,  when 
you  realize  it,  a  spirit  of  hatred  for  this  man  will 
rise  in  you.  Likewise  when  the  words  of  Christ 
in  their  intended  meaning  become  impressed  on 
your  consciousness  and  heart,  when  they  are 
realized,  the  Spirit  of  Christ  rises  in  you — is 
born  in  you  it  may  be. 

"Ye  must  be  born  again."  (John  3:7.) 
Eternal  life  comes  only  through  the  Word  of 
God.  Remember  that  Jesus  says,  "God  is  a 
Spirit/'  and  that  John  says,  "and  the  Word  was 
God."  A  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  bread 
and  wine  of  the  sacrament  do  not  in  themselves 
contain  eternal  life  is  of  the  greatest  value,  since 
it  leads  us  to  the  fact  that  eternal  life 
comes  only  by  knowing  the  words  of  God  in 
their  true  meaning, — that  is  by  having  the  Spirit 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          73 

of  God  which  is  identical  with  knowing  God. 
"And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know 
thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom 
thou  hast  sent."  "I  and  my  Father  are  one." 

In  conclusion  the  value  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
cannot  be  denied, — for  we  know  God,  and  as  a 
result  have  eternal  life,  not  by  mental  apprehen- 
sion alone,  but  by  the  addition  of  what  may  be 
called  heart  comprehension. 

SECTION  28.    We  have  found  in  the  foregoing  Christ's 
section  that  the  analogies  drawn  by  Christ  be-  ™ea?ins 

J  obtained  by 

tween  the  processes  of  generating  and  maintain-  carrying  his 
ing  physical,  and  those  processes  as  regards  the  anal^iefyH 
spiritual  life,  are  intended  to  apply  solely  in  a 
spiritual  sense. 

We  must  carry  these  analogies  out  in  full  in 
order  to  get  Christ's  meaning.  Let  us  consider 
the  mystery  of  physical  generation,  and  its 
maintenance  and  growth.  We  know  that  physi- 
cal life  comes  from  preceding  physical  life. 

The  greatest  spiritual  authority  who  ever  lived 
as  a  man,  informs  us  that  this  law  which  operates 
without  variation  in  the  physical  world,  also 
operates  without  variation  in  the  spiritual  world. 
We  learn  from  him  that  spiritual  life  is  gener- 
ated from  preceding  spiritual  life,  and  that  our 


74          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

spiritual  life  depends  upon  that  spiritual  life 
which  is  in  Christ,  and  which  comes  through 
Christ  to  us.  "The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you ; 
they  are  spirit  and  they  are  life." 

Here  let  it  be  observed  that  Christ  spoke  all  his 
words  with  a  certain  meaning,  and  it  is  evident 
that  we  must  obtain  something  of  this  true 
Christ-given  meaning  ere  these  words  become 
spirit  and  life  to  us. 

As  we  know  that  in  the  propagation  of  physi- 
cal life,  a  seed  wherein  physical  life  exists,  is 
the  base  of  every  living  physical  organism;  so 
we  also  know  that  in  the  propagation  of  spiritual 
or  eternal  life,  a  seed  wherein  spiritual  life  exists, 
is  the  base  of  all  organisms  possessing  spiritual 
life,  and  we  have  Christ's  own  word  for  it  as  to 
what  this  seed  is, — "The  seed  is  the  word  of 
God."  (Luke  8:2.) 

If  the  word  of  Christ  quoted  here  be  true, 
there  can  be  no  other  kind  of  seed  which  will 
raise  this  crop,  because  two  varieties  of  seed  will 
not  produce  the  same  thing.  The  seed  being  dif- 
ferent, the  crop  must  also  be  different. 

Now  the  consciousness  of  the  natural  man  is 
but  the  soil  in  which  the  seed  of  eternal  life  is 
sown,  and  contains  in  itself  no  spiritual  life  what- 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          75 

ever,  nor  can* it,  except  this  seed  be  sown  in  it. 
"Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man  [the 
word],  and  drink  his  blood  [the  Spirit],  ye  have 
no  life  in  you."  (John  6:  53.) 

After  physical  life  is  generated  it  must  be 
maintained  by  being  fed.  The  yet  unborn  physi- 
cal organism  must  be  fed  sufficiently,  in  order 
that  its  life  may  be  maintained,  that  it  may  grow, 
that  it  may  be  born,  in  fact.  The  life  of  the  un- 
born physical  organism  depends  wholly  upon  be- 
ing sufficiently  fed.  Likewise  the  life  of  the  yet 
unborn  spiritual  organism  depends  wholly  upon 
being  sufficiently  fed. 

Jesus  said  to  Nicodemus,  "Ye  must  be  born 
again."  Regarded  in  this  light,  the  spiritual  or- 
ganism is  a  re-birth,  or  birth  again.  Man  is 
born  once  into  this  world  consciousness,  the  spirit 
of  this  world,  and  must  be  re-born  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  So  we  see  that  the  man  is  re-born  in 
this  sense,  when  the  Spirit  of  God  taking  up  its 
abode  in  him  begins  for  him  existence  in  another 
world — the  kingdom  of  God.  His  consciousness 
and  heart  hitherto  welded  to  the  spirit  of  this 
world,  which  occupies  itself  with  the  things  of 
this  material  world, — the  things  of  sense,  begins 
to  become  welded  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  which 


76          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

occupies  itself  with  the  things  of  the  unseen 
world, — the  things  of  spirit.  As  Paul  says, 
"While  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen:  for  the 
things  which  are  seen  are  temporal;  but  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal."  (II 
Cor.  4:  18.) 

We  are  justified  then  in  saying  that  a  man  is 
born  again  who  has  received  the  Spirit  of  God — 
the  Holy  Ghost;  knowing  that,  as  John  says, 
"Whatsoever  is  born  of  God  overcometh  the 
world"  (I  John  5:4;  and  that  the  welding 
process  once  begun  must  be  completed — that 
welding  process  which  begins  when  a  man  re- 
ceives the  Spirit  of  God,  and  which  is  finished 
when  he  becomes  one  in  that  Spirit.  "I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in 
one."  (John  17:  23.) 

According  to  this  view,  a  man  would  be  born 
again  on  receiving  the  Spirit  of  God ;  then  there 
would  be  a  period  of  growth,  a  coming  to  matur- 
ity as  it  were, — which  would  be  represented  by 
the  time  between  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
the  becoming  wholly  one  with  that  gift.  The 
fullness  of  spiritual  growth  can  be  none  other 
than  perfect  oneness  with  Christ, — with  God. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          77 

As  we  know  that  there  is  no  end  of  the  spiri- 
tual world,  we  cannot  carry  the  analogy  of 
spiritual  things  with  physical  any  further  than 
we  have, — the  birth  of  the  spiritual  organism, 
and  its  growth  and  coming  to  maturity ;  for  with 
this  spiritual  organism  there  can  be  no  death, 
since  this  is  born  of  God.  The  maturity  of  the 
organism  which  is  born  of  God  is  life — eternal 
life. 

The  point  of  view  which  we  have  just  con- 
sidered— that  a  man  is  born  again  who  has  re- 
ceived the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit — we  might 
properly  call  the  "man  point  of  view."  There  is 
yet  another  point  of  view  from  which  we  ought 
to  consider  this  matter,  since  both  these  points 
of  view  are  necessary  to  a  harmonizing  and  an 
understanding  of  much  that  we  find  in  the  New 
Testament.  The  second  point  of  view  we  may 
justly  call  the  "God  point  of  view."  This  point 
of  view  is  that  God — in  Christ — takes  up  his 
abode  in  us  and  grows  in  us  until  our  whole 
nature  is  Him ;  that  we  are,  in  our  poor  human 
nature,  but  the  soil  and  Christ  the  seed. 

Both  these  points  are  not  only  made  manifest, 
but  proven  by  the  following  verses :  "We  know 
that  whosoever  is  born  of  God  sinneth  not." 


78          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

(I  John  5:18);  "Whosoever  abideth  in  him 
sinneth  not :  whosoever  sinneth  hath  not  seen 
him,  neither  known  him."  (I  John  3:6.) 

Now  we  know  that  John  had  received  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  when  Jesus  breathed  on  his 
apostles  and  said,  "Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 
(John  20:22.)  We  know,  in  other  words,  that 
he  had  been  born  again  of  the  Spirit. 

John  says,  "We  know  that  whosoever  is  born 
of  God  sinneth  not,"  and  this  leads  us  to  the  con- 
clusion that  John  after  having  been  born  again 
by  receiving  the  Holy  Ghost  never  thereafter 
sinned.  But  John  also  says,  "If  we  say  that  we 
have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth 
is  not  in  us."  (I  John  1:8.)  By  this  we  see 
that  John  includes  himself  with  those  in  whom 
sin  exists  as  a  present  possession.  We  may 
recall  here  the  prayer  of  Solomon  at  the  conse- 
cration of  the  temple,  "for  there  is  no  man  that 
sinneth  not,"  and  the  harmonious  saying  of  Jesus, 
"there  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is,  God." 
(Matt.  19:  17.) 

The  truth  of  these  things  cannot  be  denied. 
Though  a  man  may  in  one  sense  be  born  again, 
having  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  though  he 
will  not  live  in  sin,  yet  he  will  sin  at  times.  Now 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          79 

we  know,  also,  that  "Whosoever  abideth  in  him 
sinneth  not,"  and,  "Whosoever  is  born  of  God 
doth  not  commit  sin."  We  know  that  Jesus 
never  sinned  and  that  God  could  never  beget 
one  who  sinned,  for,  as  John  says,  "He  that 
committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil."  (I  John  3:8.) 

Can  both  these  points  of  view  be  true?  Yes, 
for  while  in  one  sense  a  man  cannot  be  born 
again  who  sins,  in  another  sense  he  is  unques- 
tionably born  again,  even  though  he  may  sin 
at  times.  As  we  have  seen  from  what  we  called 
the  "man  point  of  view,"  a  man  is  born  again 
when  he  receives  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  from 
the  "God  point  of  view"  he  cannot  be  born  again 
until  entirely  freed  from  sin.  For,  "whosoever 
is  born  of  God  sinneth  not."  From  this  point 
of  view,  therefore,  a  man  is  not  born  again 
until  he  is  perfected  in  Christ,  which  obviously 
does  not  occur  during  his  life  here. 

So  while  we  are  in  one  sense  born  again  when 
we  receive  Christ,  yet  in  another  sense  we  are 
not  born  again  until  Christ  has  done  his  work 
in  us  and  fully  freed  us  from  sin.  We  are  inevi- 
tably bound  to  be  born  again  at  some  future  time 
in  the  latter  sense,  if  we  have  been  born  again  in 
the  first  sense — if  we  have  received  Christ. 


8o          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

A  man  then  can  become  a  son  of  God  only 
when  freed  from  sin,  when  perfected  and  made 
wholly  one  with  Christ,  who  is  one  with  God. 
It  is  apparent,  therefore,  that  from  the  last  men- 
tioned point  of  view  —  that  of  the  perfect  Father 
—  the  Christ  who  is  born  in  a  man  must  be  re- 
garded as  in  a  sense  separate  and  apart  from 
the  man  himself;  and  yet  at  the  same  time  one 
with  the  man  in  so  far  as  the  man  lives  in  that 
spirit,  because,  as  John  says,  "whosoever  is  born 
of  God  sinneth  not." 
We  must  be  SECTION  29.  Carrying  out  the  analogy  which 


we  must  physical    organism    depends    upon   being   suffi- 

exercise   our    dently     fed      SQ    the    birth     Qf    the     Spiritual     or- 
spiritual 

strength  by  ganism,  Christ  in  us,  depends  upon  being  suffi- 

win0iofg  God  ciently  fed-  And  as  the  Physical  organism  must 
be  fed  sufficiently  in  order  to  attain  to  maturity  — 
to  the  fullness  of  its  physical  powers  —  so  must 
the  spiritual  organism  be  fed  sufficiently  to  at- 
tain to  the  fullness  of  spiritual  powers  of  which 
the  Christ  in  us  is  capable. 

After  birth,  growth.  It  is  possible  for  the 
physical  organism  to  die  for  lack  of  food  after 
being  born;  but  the  Christ  in  man,  once  born, 
knows  the  source  of  supply  of  spiritual  food. 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          81 

This  spiritual  organism,  therefore,  is  immortal, 
but  like  the  physical  body,  may  attain  a  greater 
or  less  fullness  of  power  within  the  span  of  an 
earthly  existence,  according  to  whether  it  re- 
ceives sufficient  food,  and  sufficient  exercise  of 
the  spiritual  strength  gained  from  that  food. 

In  regard  to  the  food  of  this  spiritual  organ- 
ism, it  is  God,  for  Christ  says  in  John- 6 157, 
"As  the  living  Father  hath  sent  me,  and  I  live  by 
the  Father."  He  then  adds,  "so  he  that  eateth 
me,  even  he  shall  live  by  me,"  and  here  let  us 
remember  what  John  says,  "and  the  word  was 
God";  also  Christ's  saying,  "I  and  my  Father 
are  one." 

The  physical  man  must  not  only  have  sufficient 
food,  but  sufficient  exercise  in  order  to  assimi- 
late that  food  and  reach  the  full  strength  of 
which  he  is  capable.  Repairs  go  on  more  rapid- 
ly when  muscles  are  used,  and  the  parts  of  worn- 
out  tissue  then  replaced  are  built,  not  back  into 
the  softer  form  of  unused  muscle,  but  into  the 
harder  form  of  muscle  in  action.  Thus  the 
physical  body  becomes  great  and  powerful. 

By  the  application  of  this  natural  law  to  the 
spiritual  organism,  as  Jesus  has  authorized  us 
to  do  in  his  analogies,  we  draw  the  conclusion 


82          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

that  the  power  of  the  spiritual  man  depends  upon 
exercise  as  well  as  upon  food. 

Jesus  saith  unto  them,  "My  meat  is  to  do 
the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  and  to  finish  his 
work."  (John  4:  34.)  Doing  the  will  of  God, 
that  is  spiritual  exercise.  So  the  maturity  and 
perfectness  of  spiritual  strength  which  was  in 
Jesus  depended  not  only  on  his  spiritual  food — 
"I  live  by  the  Father" — but  also  on  exercising 
the  spiritual  strength  which  that  food  gave  him, 
thereby  assimilating  the  food  and  making  it  a 
part  of  himself.  Exercising  his  spiritual  strength 
was,  "to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me." 

So  it  is  with  us.  The  spiritual  man,  Christ 
in  us,  attains  to  a  greater  or  less  fullness,  not  only 
by  sufficient  food,  but  also  by  using  the  spiritual 
strength  we  get  from  that  food  in  doing  the  will 
of  God;  in  finishing  that  portion  of  his  work 
which  the  Spirit  tells  us  is  ours. 

Jesus  says  in  John  4 :  36,  "And  he  that  reap- 
eth,  receiveth  wages,  and  gathereth  fruit  unto 
life  eternal;  that  both  he  that  soweth  and  he 
that  reapeth  may  rejoice  together."  It  may 
be  said  that  he  gathereth  the  fruit  in  himself, 
as  he  reaps  from  day  to  day  in  this  life;  since 
the  spiritual  man,  or  Christ  in  him,  becomes 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          83 

stronger  according  as  he  reaps — does  the  will 
of  God.  Now  Christ  is  life  eternal. 

SECTION    ^o.       So  though   we   may   be  born  As  the  nat' 

-..'..  -11  TT  O        •       •  •  Ural     matl     diCS 

again,  having  received  the  Holy  Spirit,  yet  it  is  in  Us,  the 
not  ^ve  that  are  born,  but  Christ  in  us.      Like-  sPiritual  man 

.    .        ,    -    ,  -  is  perfected 

wise  we  may  grow  to  spiritual  fullness  of  stature, 
and  yet  not  we,  but  the  Son  of  God  born  in  us, 
grows  in  us  to  such  fullness  of  spiritual  strength 
as  the  abundance  determines  of  spiritual  food 
and  spiritual  exercise  which  he  receives.  And 
this  is  in  our  hands. 

It  is  not  we,  as  we  exist  in  our  own  con- 
sciousness, that  go  to  heaven — into  the  kingdom 
of  God,  but  only  that  part  of  us  which  is  good — 
the  Son  of  God.  "And  no  man  hath  ascended 
up  to  heaven  but  he  that  came  down  from 
heaven,  even  the  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  heaven. 
(John  3:13.)  It  is  fortunate  that  this  is  so, 
for  if  we  could  take  the  evil  part  of  our  nature 
with  us  we  should  be  no  more  happy  there  than 
here.  The  "carnal  mind"  is  enmity  against  God, 
and  we  should  be  in  a  state  of  division  against 
ourselves. 

Christ  said,  "The  Kingdom  of  God  is  within 
you,"  but  he  did  not  say  that  this  kingdom  occu- 
pied our  whole  being,  nor  can  it  until  we  are 


84          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

finally  purged  of  all  that  is  evil ;  in  other  words, 
until  we  are  perfected. 

As  his  own  death  approached,  Jesus  said: 
"The  hour  is  come  that  the  Son  of  Man  should 
be  glorified.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and 
die,  it  abideth  alone ;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth 
forth  much  fruit.  He  that  loveth  his  life  shall 
lose  it,  and  he  that  hateth  his  life  in  this  world 
shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal."  (John  12:23, 
24,  25.)  In  Luke  13:32,  Jesus  says,  "and  the 
third  day  I  shall  be  perfected."  Christ  was 
glorified  by  his  victory  over  death  in  the  natural 
body,  and  again  when  in  his  ascension  he  passed 
wholly  out  of  the  material  into  the  spiritual 
world. 

And  day  by  day,  as  the  natural  man  dies  in 
us,  the  spiritual  man  is  perfected  more  and 
more.  And  day  by  day,  as  the  natural  man  dies 
in  us,  the  spiritual  man  brings  forth  fruit  more 
and  more.  "But  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit.  He  that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose 
it,  and  he  that  hateth  his  life  in  this  world  shall 
keep  it  unto  life  eternal."  What  a  blessed 
thing  it  is  that  God  has  given  us  power  through 
his  Son  in  us,  to  live  here  upon  earth  in  the 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          85 

kingdom  of  God  in  a  measure.  "He  that  hath 
the  Son  hath  life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son 
of  God  hath  not  life."  (I  John  5 :  12.) 

SECTION  31.     There  is  a  phase  of  the  subject  Beginnings  of 

,      ,  -  «  .   ,  J .  r     ,    spiritual  life 

not  yet  touched  upon,  but  which  we  are  justified 
in  mentioning,  by  the  analogies  which  Jesus 
drew  between  physical  and  spiritual  life.  There 
is  a  period  before  birth  in  the  development  of  the 
physical  organism  when  its  life  is  not  its  own 
but  belongs  to  the  parent.  So  also  there  is  a 
period  in  the  development  of  the  spiritual  organ- 
ism when  its  life  is  not  its  own  but  the  heavenly 
Father's.  "For  he  that  hath,  to  him  shajl  be 
given;  and  he  that  hath  not,  from  him  shall 
be  taken  even  that  which  he  hath."  (Mark  4 :  25.) 
"He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life,  and  he  that  hath 
not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  life."  (I  John  5:12.) 

If  then  Christ  be  born  in  us,  we  shall  have 
life  indeed,  as  he  says  in  John  5 : 26 :  "For  as 
the  Father  hath  life  in  himself,  so  hath  he  given 
to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself." 

SECTION  32.     Most  of  us  have  at  some  time 
or  other  found  difficulty  in  the  conception  of  the  The  spiritual 
spiritual   oneness   of   the   Father   and   the   Son.   ^TanY* 
Perhaps   we   may  by  reference   to   the   Gospels  Christ 
attain  to  a  clearer  conception  of  it. 


86          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

We  find  in  John  i :  14,  "And  the  Word  was 
made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we  beheld 
his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father),  full  of  grace  and  truth."  In  John 
i :  i  we  find,  "And  the  Word  was  God." 

Instead  of  having  to  comprehend  only  Christ's 
identity  with  the  Word,  we  have  to  comprehend 
God's  identity  with  the  Word  also.  This  seems 
to  make  the  matter  more  difficult,  but  in  reality 
renders  it  simpler.  For  instance,  we  find  in 
John  5 :  30,  "I  and  my  Father  are  one."  Thus 
we  have  in  these  three  verses  direct  statements 
that  Christ  is  identical  with  the  Word ;  that  God 
is  identical  with  the  Word,  and  that  Christ  and 
God  are  identical.  Now  this  identity  of  Christ 
with  God  is  unquestionably  made  more  conceiv- 
able to  our  reason  by  the  identity  of  each  of 
them  with  the  Word. 

Let  us,  for  instance,  consider  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. What  was  his  real  self  ?  Was  it  the  giant 
body,  six  feet  four  inches  tall?  Was  it  the 
physical  body  that  was  Abraham  Lincoln's  real 
self?  or  was  it  that  inward  individuality 
which  made  him  think  and  act  as  he  did  ?  Surely 
the  real  self  of  the  man  was  the  inward  man. 
In  our  case  likewise  the  spirit  which  is  in  us, 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          87 

that  inward  man  which  dictates  all  our  thoughts 
and  actions,  is  our  real  self. 

The  real  self  of  Christ  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  God.  Jesus 
says  in  John  4 :  24,  "God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that 
worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and 
in  truth." 

Where  John  says  in  the  first  verse  of  his 
gospel,  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was 
God,"  he  might  have  said  with  equal  truth :  In 
the  beginning  was  the  Spirit  and  the  Spirit  was 
with  God,  and  the  Spirit  was  God;  but  if  he 
had  done  so  we  would  not  be  able  to  know  so 
certainly  where  to  go  to  find  God.  "The  Word" 
truly  does  not  mean  the  spoken  symbols  which 
came  from  the  mouth  of  Jesus ;  it  means  rather 
the  spirit  of  Jesus,  and  to  find  out  what  manner 
of  spirit  this  is,  we  can  do  no  better  than  to 
study  and  think  about  the  words  which  he  spoke 
and  the  perfectly  harmonious  deeds  which  he 
did.  Where  our  consideration  of  his  words 
fails  to  make  plain  to  us  his  spirit — the  Word — 
then  oftentimes  his  deeds  and  life  supply  the 
essential  spiritual  comprehension,  the  meaning 
lacking.  "And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and 


88          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

dwelt  among  us."  The  Word  was  made  mani- 
fest by  deeds  as  well  as  by  words,  the  deeds 
which  Jesus  did. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  we  have  an  absolute 
guarantee  of  the  truth  of  Christ's  sayings  by 
their  perfect  harmony  with  each  other,  by  their 
harmony  with  his  deeds,  and  by  Christ's  promise 
to  his  disciples  in  John  14:  26:  "But  the  Com- 
forter, which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father 
will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all 
things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance, 
whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you." 

Our  love  for       SECTION  33.      Christ  has  left  to  us  two  com- 
o.ur  ne^hbor  mandments,  in  the  perfect  observance  of  which 

is  to  be  ex-  v 

pressed  in  the  entire  will  of  God  would  in  us  be  fulfilled. 

terms   of   our    «Jesus   sajd   unto  him     -J^OU   shalt   loVC  the   Lord 
love  for  God       J 

thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind.  This  is  the  first  and  great 
commandment.  And  the  second  is  like  unto  it, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On 
these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets." 

There  are  some  eminent  divines  who  appar- 
ently make  the  greater  commandment  subordin- 
ate to  the  lesser,  who  practically  say  to  us  that 
if  we*  fulfill  the  lesser — to  love  our  neighbor  as 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          89 

ourselves — we  also  fulfill  the  greater.  But  is 
this  necessarily  so?  Is  it  not  possible  for  a 
man  to  love  his  neighbor  as  himself,  and  yet 
neither  love  himself  or  his  neighbor  on  a  spiritual 
plane,  with  reference  to  the  things  of  God?  Is 
it  not  possible  for  a  man  who  finds  his  pleas- 
ure in  the  things  of  this  world,  to  take  an 
equal  pleasure  in  seeing  others  do  likewise? 
He  may  wish  the  best  for  himself  and  his  neigh- 
bor that  he  is  able  to  see,  and  still  not  fulfill  the 
first  and  great  commandment  to  love  the  Lord 
with  all  his  heart,  and  soul,  and  mind. 

Jesus  says  that  on  the  observance  of  both 
these  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  and  we  are,  therefore,  not  justified  in 
saying  that  the  observance  of  the  lesser  is  all 
that  is  necessary.  In  John  15:12  we  find, 
"This  is  my  commandment,  that  ye  love  one 
another,  as  I  have  loved  you."  Here  it  is  ap- 
parent that  the  words  "as  I  have  loved  you" 
imply  a  love  from  the  spiritual  plane,  and  that 
this  commandment,  therefore,  includes  both  the 
commandments  we  have  mentioned. 

We  find  the  same  to  be  the  case  in  John  13 :  34, 
where  Jesus  says,  "A  new  commandment  I  give 
unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have 


90          WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE? 

loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another."  The 
possibility  of  inadequate  interpretation  is  evident- 
ly in  Jesus'  mind  when  he  adds,  "as  I  have 
loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another/'  It 
is  plain  that  in  loving  one  another  as  Christ 
loved  us,  we  must  love  with  reference  to  spiritual 
things,  with  reference  to  the  eternal  welfare  of 
each  other,  for  such  was  the  manner  of  his 
love  for  us. 

With  regard,  therefore,  to  the  two  great  com- 
mandments, we  are  not  justified  in  twisting  the 
word  of  Christ  from  its  true  meaning,  which 
clearly  is,  that  the  lesser  commandment  is  with 
reference  to  the  greater ;  that  wherever  there  may 
be  a  seeming  conflict  in  the  application  of  these 
two  commandments,  the  conflict  is  to  be  decided 
with  reference  to  our  love  for  God  and  his 
righteousness,  rather  than  with  reference  to  our 
love  for  our  neighbor. 

In  reality  there  can  be  no  actual  conflict  be- 
tween these  two  commandments,  for  they  are  in 
perfect  harmony.  But  there  are  times  when 
we  are  called  upon  to  make  a  decision  as  to  a 
seeming  conflict.  In  such  cases  it  will  be  found 
that  this  apparent  conflict  is  caused  by  our  failure 
to  reconcile  the  well-being  of  our  neighbor  out- 


WHAT  IS  ETERNAL  LIFE?          91 

wardly  and  inwardly,  spiritually  and  physically. 
Suppose  a  situation  where  we  could  obtain  food 
or  shelter  for  our  neighbor  only  by  committing 
robbery,  perjury,  or  some  other  sin  against  the 
spiritual  man.  We  are  not  commanded  to  love 
our  neighbor  more  than  ourselves.  If  we  would 
not  do  this  for  ourselves  we  should  not  do  it  for 
our  neighbor,  and  if  we  would  commit  such  acts 
for  ourselves,  it  is  evident  that  we  do  not  love 
God  with  all  our  heart,  and  soul,  and  mind. 
Our  love  and  care  for  the  inward  welfare  of  our 
neighbor  is  to  be  placed  above  that  for  his  out- 
ward welfare,  the  same  as  for  ourselves. 

In  this  connection  it  is  also  true  that  every 
proper  and  righteous  expression  of  love  for  our 
neighbor  in  regard  to  material  things  is  also  an 
expression  of  our  love  for  his  inward  welfare, 
and  is,  therefore,  also  an  expression  of  our  love 
for  God  and  his  righteousness.  As  such  we  can 
none  of  us  afford  to  neglect  these  things.  They 
are  of  the  first  importance,  both  to  our  neighbor's 
welfare  and  to  our  own.  Yet  let  us  assign  to 
the  first  and  great  commandment  its  proper 
place,  the  place  which  Christ  assigned  to  it. 


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